The Brussels government said on Thursday it will intervene in any appeals lodged with the Council of State over the use of the RNP07L flight path, after the federal government decided to make the route permanent.
The move follows the federal decision to formalise a flight path that results in low-altitude overflights above hundreds of thousands of people in the capital.
Brussels Environment Secretary of State Ans Persoons said the regional government would use all available legal means to challenge what she described as a permanent “air motorway” over residents’ heads.
“We cannot accept it, because the impact on health is considerable,” she said after the government meeting.
Persoons also said an additional legal assessment had been requested to examine whether Brussels-Capital Region can itself bring an appeal before the Council of State against the federal decision.
That further review was deemed necessary because the deadline for an appeal linked to a letter sent by Federal Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke to Elke Van den Brandt, Brussels Minister of Mobility and Public Works, has expired.
If the analysis concludes that there are sufficient legal grounds, Persoons will be tasked with filing an appeal on behalf of the Region.
While reiterating the economic importance of the airport and its major role in employment, the Government of Brussels said it wanted to avoid any changes to flight paths that would merely shift the nuisance onto other Brussels residents, whether in the north or the south of the city.
