Photograph: Bell 430 Helicentre Expands Into Coventry U.K. helicopter operator Helicentre has started operations from Coventry Airport in the West Midlands. The company gained some television exposure in 2000 when it flew in medical specialists and rail engineers to the scenes of the Shelby and Hatfield railroad disasters. Helicentre now is looking for a site near London, where it can provide ``rapid response charters'' for corporate customers in central London.

A report commissioned by European Transport Ministers into the implications of Europe's growing air traffic saturation problem says that by 2005 the system will be unable to accommodate around seven percent of demand. Entitled ``Constraints to Growth,'' the report predicts that 36 percent of anticipated demand for air travel will be unsatisfied by 2020, and lack of airport capacity will be ``as constraining as lack of en-route capacity.''

The British government plans to commission a major study of aircraft noise -- the first since the Aircraft Noise Index Study was undertaken in 1985. The investigation will focus on the perceived relationship between noise levels and annoyance, sleep disturbance at night and the value of lower noise levels relative to other environmental factors. Three recent government-sponsored studies on sleep disturbance also will be taken into account within the new study.