Londoners claim thousands more planes are flying over their homes, turning neighbourhoods into “noise ghettos”.
Flight paths to and from London City Airport have changed after new air traffic control technology was brought in to cut carbon emissions.
The Area Navigation (RNAV) systems force flights to follow more streamlined routes, so less fuel is burned.
But residents in parts of south and east London say the changes have caused a rise in noise pollution.
Areas affected in south and south-east London include Dulwich, Brixton and Vauxhall, Greenwich and Lewisham.
The worst affected neighbourhoods in east London, said to experience 70 per cent of flights due to wind direction, include Bow, Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead and Redbridge.
Campaign group Hacan East said the number of flights over Leytonstone had increased by 50 per cent, from about 40,000 to 60,000 flights a year, since the paths were introduced last February.
Spokesman John Stewart said: “Residents are angry the areas where they live have suddenly become so noisy.
"There are serious concerns about noise ghettos being created in London. The emissions benefits can still be gained from using multiple flight paths which would mean, while the area affected would be wider, the frequency of the flights would be reduced.”
John Cryer, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, said: “They have effectively created aircraft superhighways.”
Residents are now demanding that the routes are changed. The Civil Aviation Authority is due to start a review next month.
Len Duvall, London Assembly member for Greenwich and Lewisham, said: “The intensity of the flights, often at a very low level, has made the level of noise experienced by residents pretty intolerable. We are asking that the airport rethink the concentrated flight paths along with the Civil Aviation Authority.”
A spokesman for City Airport said: “The introduction of RNAV means aircraft simply use a more accurate form of navigation.
"Alongside this, a new arrivals system has been introduced, positioning over the Thames Estuary, which actually reduces time flying over residential areas.
"The introduction of RNAV flight paths is not optional — they were introduced in February 2016, in line with a legal requirement from the CAA to modernise London’s airspace by winter 2019.”
A CAA spokesman said it would be carrying out a review. He added: “If the impacts and benefits of the airspace change are not as originally anticipated, we will seek to establish why and determine the most appropriate course of action.”
'It's making my life a misery'
Mike Plant says the concentrated flight paths have made his life “a misery”.
The designer, 46, says flights directly over his house in Leytonstone have risen from 15 to around 2,000 a day since their introduction last year.
Mr Plant, said: “The noise is unbearable. It penetrates double glazing and comes through the walls.
"You can feel the vibrations. Flights to and from City start at 6am and finish at 10.30pm.
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"There are Heathrow flights as early as 4.30am. Flights at their worst are every 50 seconds. It makes sleep impossible and has given me migraines"
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