An investigation was put in place after a series of complaints from local residents and an association for the defence of the inhabitants against air pollution.
Is Brussels Airport Company (BAC) in compliance with the conditions of its operating licence for noise and environmental standards? This is the central issue of an investigation conducted by the Regulatory Service, the airport’s economic regulator, it was learned on Saturday.
The Regulatory Service for Rail Transport and Operation of Brussels-National Airport claims that between 10 and 17 February it received a large number of complaints concerning the “continuing challenge of BAC to the acoustic standards adopted by the Brussels-Capital Region“. The company would therefore no longer fulfill the conditions for its licence to operate the Brussels-National airport
The Regulatory Service has decided to act, even if it is not competent to handle complaints as such. It thus launched “a mission to monitor compliance by BAC” with noise standards. It stresses that the manager must, in accordance with the conditions of his operating licence, “respect and enforce, … the acoustic standards laid down by the Brussels-Capital Region and the Flemish Region, after consultation with the Federal State“.
The decision to launch an audit also took account of the numerous complaints made in recent years to the airport’s mediation service about the noise pollution caused by aircraft and the many exceedances of the noise standards that the Brussels Region found in 2016, specifies the Regulatory Service.
The duration of the investigation is not indicated. If it results in a finding of infringement, the manager will have several months to get in order.
Sources: Belga & L’Avenir
