Flanders has awarded Antwerp Airport a new environmental permit with what Flemish Environment minister, Zuhal Demir has called “strict conditions”. Those caveats include “a ban on night flights, noise standards, the construction of a noise barrier and strict compliance with the targets set”, Demir said, noting that the licence could be liable to change in the future.
6000 objections
After the airport’s 20-year environmental permit ended in June 2024, 6,000 objections were sent in by local residents listing nuisance and pollution among their concerns. Despite those, members of the Regional Environmental Permitting Commission (GOVC) conditionally approved a new operational permit a month later.
Promising “additional measures” that Demir said would “ensure the viability of the neighbourhood”, the minister emphasised that the licence does not represent “a carte blanche” and that “follow-up and support” would be put in place to reinforce its terms.
The imposition of night time closures from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am and the delay of the Deurne-based airport’s opening time by 30 minutes, buy half-an-hour’s extra peace for residents nearby. Meanwhile flight numbers will be capped and a noise barrier will have to be installed. Noise monitoring will be conducted by a special commission.
Why Antwerp?
Nonetheless the legal challenges from residents are likely set to continue, with critics pointing to the airport’s lack of financial viability and its proximity to the major hub of Brussels Airport, which they say render Antwerp’s offering redundant.
Antwerp receives 3 euros in government aid for every one euro of turnover, making many question why it continues to exist. But an airport representative has hit back, pointing at the contribution it makes to pilot training through the “half dozen pilot schools in Antwerp” as well as “the necessary equipment, such as navigation systems and simulators to train them. We provide the pilots of the future.”
A positive step
Welcoming the noise pollution and night flight measures, Ruth-Marie Henckes of the pressure group Doe Deurne Dicht (Close Down Deurne) told VRT NWS the conditional licence is “a positive step, but it does not address the root of the problem.”
Meanwhile, Brussels Airport’s new licence, granted by Flanders in March 2024, continues to cause controversy, after a new appeal was launched against it by Alain Maron, Brussels Environment Minister, citing the permit’s failure to ban night flights. Their noise is costing millions in damages to many of the 220,000 local residents suffering the documented ill-effects of such sleep disturbances, which include negative impacts on heart and vascular health, particularly in older men. The issue falls under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the right to the protection of a healthy environment.
