The Federal Ombudsman for Brussels Airport, Philippe Touwaide, expressed surprise on Thursday at comments made by the company's CEO that the airport would not be able to comply with the noise standards set out in the Flemish environmental permit.
The permit does not ban night flights, but it does require the airport to reduce night-time disturbance to local residents by at least 30% by 2032. The aim is to achieve this through increasingly stringent noise standards for weekend flights from 2026. However, on Wednesday, Brussels Airport CEO Arnaud Feist said they would not be able to meet these standards.
The Federal Ombudsman believes Feist is "clearly confusing the notions of standard and noise level, but it is already mistakenly stating that Brussels Airport Company (BAC) will not be able to meet the noise standards set for 2030. These are noise levels to be respected not by BAC but by the airlines."
In a press release, Touwaide pointed out that "the old, polluting and noisy aircraft are not operated by passenger airlines with modern fleets, but only by cargo airlines. The cargo fleet using Brussels Airport includes a majority of aircraft over 30 years old, with a record of 41 years for a Boeing 767-200. This is the kind of outdated aircraft that should be eliminated from Brussels' skies."
The ombudsman also presented some figures for the past year: the number of flights to and from Belgium's biggest airport rose slightly (+3.31%) to 198,617 movements, with a minimal decrease in night flights to 16,380 (-1.16%).
Night flight infringements
Touwaide's department reported 763 suspected breaches of aviation regulations to the Belgian authorities and to BAC managers: 218 for aircraft operating at night with an individual noise level (QC) that did not authorise them to do so, and 507 suspected breaches of regulations on night slots, i.e. aircraft taking off at night with flight authorisations for the day.
The ombudsman also found 31 suspected infringements for night take-offs during periods legally defined as periods without any take-offs (quiet nights), and seven for incorrect procedures, i.e. aircraft that took off at night using daytime procedures.
Runway 25 right was the most used (57% of flights). For take-offs, more than four out of five aircraft (82%) used this runway, which allows them to fly over a large part of Brussels, but also to follow the 'Ring' air route. Runway 25 left was the most used for arrivals (52%). The intense use of these two runways is essentially linked to the prevailing winds at the airport.
The short runway 01/19, originally designed as an emergency runway, was used by 12% of aircraft on landing (including 9% in the 01 direction, resulting in low-level overflights of several municipalities on the eastern outskirts of the airport) and 5% on take-off.
