Latest news with #NoiseQuotaScheme
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Dublin Airport increases night time flights
Dublin Airport has been granted planning permission to increase the number of night-time flights it can operate and extend the hours that it can use its second number of flights permitted at the airport as a whole has increased from an average of 65 a night to 95 between 23:00 and 07:00 local to now, flights were not allowed to take off or land on the second runway, known as the north runway, between those hours, but they can now use the runway up to midnight and from 06: it said a "Noise Quota Scheme" would apply on the north runway, meaning that the type of aircraft that use the runway in night time hours would be limited, depending on the noise they emit. Aircraft that go over a noise limit will not be able to take off or land at its decision, An Comisiún Pleanála (Ireland's national independent planning body) said it applied a restriction of 35,672 night-time flights over a 364 day to "protect residential amenity".It said the cap would allow for airport growth while providing an essential safeguard against excessive night-time Commission also said it had decided to apply both a cap and a noise quota as it believed a quota system alone "could permit an increase in the number of night-time flights, without adequately considering the cumulative impact of increased flight volume on surrounding communities and environment".
Irish Independent
17-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Planning watchdog reverses plan to cut night-time flights at Dublin Airport
The planning body has also insisted that restrictions on numbers will not disincentivise airlines from using less noisy aircraft at Dublin Airport. In a draft decision last September, the commission had said it intended to cap at 13,000 the number of flights permitted to use Dublin Airport between 11pm and 7am. That would have represented a 60pc decrease on the current permitted use. In the ruling issued today, however, An Coimisiún Pleanála said that the airport will now be subject to a noise quota scheme, and agreed with revised calculations that an annual cap of 35,672 night-time aircraft movements at Dublin Airport 'would be appropriate'. It said that number will allow the airport to grow, 'while providing an essential safeguard against excessive night-time activity'. The DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, had initiated a so-called 'relevant action' to alter key planning conditions attached to the construction of its new runway, which opened in 2022. The DAA sought to remove a numerical cap on the average number of flights permitted between 11pm and 7am. It wanted this replaced with an annual night-time quota, that would be applied between 11.30pm and 6am. Airlines including Ryanair had supported the move. A move to a night-time quota had also been recommended by the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority (ANCA) that operates under Fingal County Council. In 2023, the council issued an enforcement notice against the DAA for breaching its night-time flight quota. That action was stayed, pending the outcome of the relevant action. The planning watchdog has now confirmed that Dublin Airport will be subject to both a cap on the number of flights within the specified time period, and a noise quota scheme. 'The commission acknowledges that operating restrictions must not be more restrictive than is required to achieve the Noise Abatement Objective (NAO),' its ruling says. 'However its decision to require an Air Traffic Movement (ATM) cap in addition to the Noise Quota Scheme (NQS) was based on an assessment of whether the NQS alone would sufficiently protect the surrounding communities and environment from increased effects of aircraft noise emissions in accordance with the NAO. 'The commission concluded that relying solely on the NQS could permit an increase in the number of night-time flights, without adequately considering the cumulative impact of increased flight volume on surrounding communities and environment,' it added. 'The NQS would not in itself directly limit the total number of movements, which can still lead to significant disturbance due to the volume of flights.'
