This is the essential figure that appears in an official press release from the President of the Walloon government. The battle has raged in recent days between environmentalists, who considered the number of movements authorized by the permit of regional officials, ie 50.00O, as a maximum volume, and the management of the airport, to which the reform movement, which wanted to go up to 70,000. A point of balance has therefore been found, slightly below the 60,000 previously granted in a recent noise exposure plan; what, according to Elio Di Rupo’s spokesman, to ensure “the pursuit of the economic development of the airport and employment, the preservation of the quality of life of the inhabitants and taking into account the environmental and climatic transition.”
The ceiling of 55,000 flights per year does not apply to aircraft weighing less than 34 tonnes or less than 19 passengers, which may represent more than a tenth of current activity.
Something new for the calculation of noise pollution
Noise pollution standards are specified. In fact, it is a new method of calculation, which no longer aggregates the nocturnal decibels emitted by all machines, but which only counts the planes which cause the most serious inconvenience for local residents. The famous Boeing 747-400 will eventually disappear, at night, but perhaps not during the day. Something to ease the restrictions…
In a first reaction, the spokesperson for Liège Airport speaks of a “positive signal” and thanks the ministers for their “comprehension“. The management thinks aware of the growing importance of environmental issues and asserts its readiness to assume its share. The ministers of regional planning and the environment will now have to translate this agreement into a detailed technical document that takes several hours to write the smallest paragraphs and refine the smallest commas. It is only following a careful reading of the dozens of pages that Liège Airport will decide on possible actions to be taken.