French experts at the French consultancy Envisa recommended that Brussels Zaventem Airport stops or at least reduces night flights and takes more responsibility in noise management.

The report also highlights the importance of the role of Brussels’ Zaventem Airport, stressing that it “needs to shoulder its responsibility in the noise problem” since “it generates plane movements coming into and departing from its compound.”

According to the experts, the airport infrastructure could also be improved to facilitate quieter departures and arrivals.

The French experts pointed out in their report that many airports of the same nature in Europe completely ban night flights.

Zaventem Airport has been embroiled in a long running dispute with surrounding residents regarding the noise emanating from aircraft during the night.Aircraft that take off from Zaventem fly over Brussels a few minutes later, on flight paths allocated by a federal agency.

For the past 15 years, disagreement on how to regulate this has pitted French-speaking areas of Brussels and the outskirts against Dutch-speaking municipalities in Flanders and local residents’ pressure groups, which are sprouting up.

Via The Brussels Times