Gatwick has 50 night flights in the summer and 25 in the winter, compared with Heathrow's 16.

Now the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign hopes the ruling on Heathrow heralds hope for a cutback in night flights over Sussex and Surrey.

Yesterday a European court backed campaigners who said night flights at Heathrow Airport violated their own human rights.

The group says it will be studying the judgement to decide whether to take legal advise about making a similar claim.

Chairman Brendon Sewill said: "The people underneath Gatwick's flight paths suffer very badly. Although there are fewer people than at Heathrow this judgement gives them the same right to a good night's sleep."

He said it was not known what action the Government would take following the ruling.

Most of the night flights at Gatwick are from the Far East and travel over Tunbridge Wells, through Edenbridge and Lingfield.

When the wind is in the east they land to the west flying above Horsham and Rudgewick and Capel and Newdigate on the Sussex/Surrey border.

Mr Sewill, whose group is made up of more than 100 parish councils and community groups, said they would be considering what action to take at a meeting next Wednesday.

He said: "We recognise this is a long-term issue and we wouldn't want to make the crisis in the aviation industry any worse. We are looking for a steady reduction in the number and noise of night flights.

"In the long term it is an opportunity to get it right. We have more night flights than any other airport in this country or in Europe but there are fewer people under the flight path, compared to Heathrow."

He said Crawley was to the side of the airport and did not suffer much noise.

The nearest village was Charlwood which suffered some night noise but was not on a direct flight path.

He added: "Under the flight path the disturbance around Gatwick is greater because it comes against a quiet background, unlike Heathrow which has London nearby."

Yesterday's landmark ruling came in The European Court of Human Rights.

It ruled in favour of eight residents living under Heathrow's flight path who claimed their basic human rights were being violated.

The case was brought against the Department of Transport but the ruling is not binding on the UK Government.

However, in the past Britain has generally gone along with judgements of the court.

One worrying alternative is the prospect of the Government considering moving night flights from Heathrow to Gatwick.

A Gatwick spokesman said it was waiting for the Government response to yesterday's ruling.

He said: "We do not know whether the response will have any effect on Gatwick, where the circumstances are very different from those at Heathrow."

He said the airport would continue to work closely with its business partners and neighbours in the local community to seek to minimise the impact of both day and night noise.

Horsham District Council deputy planning director Paul Rowley said the council would be interested in working with the airport to look into night noise if the need arose.