Belgian health authority recommends ban on night flights at Brussels airport

This indicates numerous harmful health effects. Belgian health authorities on Tuesday called for a “total ban” on aircraft from 11pm to 7am at Brussels-Zaventem airport, the country’s busiest, to protect the health of some 160,000 local residents most affected by noise pollution.

In addition to sleep disturbances, such noise pollution can cause hypertension and an increased risk of depression or cognitive impairment in children, she stressed. “There is no future for nighttime entertainment at the airport in this densely populated region,” said Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke. “I therefore advocate a gradual, realistic but systematic reduction in night flights, stopping the noisiest aircraft first,” he continued.

Brussels Airport, the airport operator, for its part defended the importance of night traffic, especially for cargo activities and “the transport of certain critical goods such as pharmaceuticals.”

Curfew in Paris-Orly

In its recommendation, the Supreme Council of Health (CSS) uses as a reference the activities of 2019 (before the Covid-19 pandemic) and recalls that in that year “234,461 aircraft movements” were recorded in Zaventem, including about 27,000 or more 11%, from 23:00 to 7:00. This document estimates that around 163,000 local residents are exposed to airborne noise above 45 dB, while the World Health Organization has “strongly recommended” that this noise be reduced to below 40 dB due to harmful health effects.

Also mentioned is a study conducted among German primary school children which found a link between exposure to aircraft noise (near Frankfurt Airport) and delays in learning to read. In 2011, a German administrative court banned flights at Frankfurt Airport between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. This measure is still in effect except in cases of extreme weather conditions or for safety reasons.

In France, a curfew has also been introduced at Paris-Orly airport. 23:30 and 6 am, but not Paris-Charles de Gaulle, where restrictions, however, apply to the noisiest aircraft.

Brussels-Zaventem Airport has handled an average of 20 to 25 million passengers a year for ten years, excluding 2020 and 2021 when traffic fell due to Covid. The platform claims that, together with the port of Antwerp, it is one of the main employers in the Flemish region. Cargo activity at Zaventem, which accounts for 50% of overnight flights recorded today, “represents 7,000 jobs,” according to Brussels Airport.