Minister Demir extends the environmental permit of Brussels Airport, no ban on night flights

Minister Demir extends the environmental permit of Brussels Airport, no ban on night flights

Flemish Minister for the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) has extended the environmental permit of Brussels Airport. Demir’s cabinet reports this. There will be no ban on night flights, but the minister does impose a number of conditions on the airport.

The current permit was granted in 2004 but expires on July 8. Minister Demir therefore had to decide – based on a favorable advice from the Regional Environmental Permit Committee (GOVC) – whether Brussels Airport could convert its expiring environmental permit into an environmental permit of indefinite duration.

CEO Arnaud Feist of Brussels Airport recently emphasized that sufficient expansion space for the airport is “indispensable to keep our country’s second economic engine running after the port of Antwerp”, Demir stated that he “strives for a balance between prosperity and impact.” for the environment”.

Conditions

It had been clear for some time that there would be conditions attached to a new permit. For example, the GOVC report mentioned fewer night flights and noise pollution, a possible ceiling on the number of flight movements, and lower nitrogen emissions.

Ultimately, Demir decided not to go as far as the advice of the Healthcare Department, which de facto requested a ban on night flights. The minister is imposing a significant reduction in the number of seriously sleep-disrupting flights: that number must be reduced by 30 percent by 2032. A ceiling of 240,000 flights per year will also be imposed from 2032, up from 212,000 in 2023.

“Zaventem’s future secured”

Demir says in a press release that he “secures the future of Zaventem airport”, but has imposed conditions “to guarantee the balance between the economic interests of the airport and the quality of life for the surrounding area”.

“Zaventem airport is an important growth engine in our country, and can remain so thanks to this environmental permit,” it said. “64,000 people work directly and indirectly in the airport community. We are expressly not restricting the purchasing power of all these families and the creation of prosperity for Flanders, although we do ask for efforts from the sector. After all, safeguarding the balance between economic interests and quality of life is the best guarantee of legal certainty,” it said.