Airports are notorious for their air pollution, but they’re guilty of a tonne of noise pollution, too. Think about it: if you can hear a plane when it’s flying high in the sky, imagine how loud it is when it’s landing.
The answer is very, and residents who live near Lisbon’s Huberto Delgado airport have had enough – but after years of complaints, they could be in for a win.
That’s because Portugal’s Infrastructure and Housing minister Miguel Pinto Luz announced to Parliament on November 7 that plans are in place to implement a ‘hard curfew’ against flights landing and departing between 1 and 5 am.
He cited widespread ‘criticism from municipalities, mayors and citizens regarding the noise caused by aeroplanes, as well as pollution,’ according to Travel Tomorrow.
A cap on the number of night flights was actually already in place at the Lisbon hub, with a maximum number of 92 supposedly allowed per week. However, campaign groups say that restriction is routinely ignored, and up to 160 flights actually depart or land during that time.
But so far, it’s not actually clear if this ban will be flat-out, or if flights which have been delayed will be exempt from the curfew – in theory, there could still be quite a lot of noise during those hours.
So, campaign platform Airport Out, Lisbon Improves is calling for more drastic action – moving the airport.
Yep, you read that right. Huberto Delgado is dated and right now there are talks of giving it a €300 million refurb, but residents say the facilities should instead be moved further away from the city.
While this might sound a bit dramatic, Lisbon isn’t the only city facing backlash from residents about airport noise: it’s quite the issue in Dublin and Brussels, too. Stay tuned for more updates.
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