(2004/C 84 E/0179)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4061/03

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(13 January 2004)

Subject:   Noise from aircraft at Eleftherios Venizelos airport

The noise caused by aircraft landing at and taking off from Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens international airport, is severely disturbing the 400 000 inhabitants of the region.

With one voice, the Municipal Council of Vari — whose views are shared by the Ombudsman — accuses the responsible bodies (the Civil Aviation Service and the Airport Administration) of allowing aircraft to fly over densely populated areas in order to save a trifling amount of time and fuel instead of turning in from the sea, which is 5-10 kilometres further, despite recommendations to the contrary from competent aviation organisations. Moreover, the airport operates throughout the night, often allowing noisy aircraft to fly overhead in breach of Directive 2002/30/EC (1)

What measures can the Commission take to ensure that:

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

Directive 2002/30/EC (2) contains no provisions on a maximum threshold for noise emissions from overflying aircraft.

Its purpose is to define the conditions and procedures which must be complied with before noise-related operating restrictions can be introduced.

The scope of the Directive is to lay down rules on the withdrawal of the noisiest aircraft of Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and on the introduction of partial operating restrictions which limit the operation of civil subsonic aeroplanes in given time periods.

Although the Directive provides a framework which must be respected when introducing operating restrictions, it is in no way confined to imposing standards for the level of noise emissions from aircraft.

The Commission takes the view that flight paths for landing and take-off need to be established on the basis of the local situation of each airport. Accordingly, and in view of the considerable variety of local situations, it is appropriate for decisions in this field to be taken at local/national level.

Consequently, given the answer to the previous question, it falls to the local/national authorities to specify the optimal number and the location of equipment to monitor the level of noise emissions.

As indicated above, the Member States have the means — in the form of Directive 2002/30/EC — to impose restrictions on the number of night flights, should they so wish, while respecting a minimum number of harmonised rules.

As the situation regarding excessive noise emissions varies from one airport to another, account needs to be taken of the number of people actually affected by the noise and of the results of a cost/benefit analysis to assess the economic and social impact of such a measure.

More generally, European legislation will, in future, allow noise problems around airports to be addressed within a wider framework, under the provisions of Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (3). According to this Directive, competent authorities in Member States are required to produce noise maps around major airports (4) (no later than 30 June 2007), to inform the public about noise exposure and its effects, and to draw up action plans (no later than 18 July 2008) to reduce noise where necessary and to maintain environmental noise quality where it is good.

(1)  OJ L 85, 28.3.2002, p. 40.

(2)  Directive 2002/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 March 2002 on the establishment of rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at Community airports.

(3)  Directive 2002/49/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of the environmental noise, OJ L 189, 18.7.2002.

(4)  Civil airports having more than 50 000 movements per year — a movement being a take-off or a landing — excluding those purely for training purposes on light aircraft.