At the request of the Finance Inspector of the Belgian Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport, and of the Public Procurement Unit of the FPS Mobility, the Federal Ombudsman for Air Transport Philippe Touwaide was asked for his opinion on whether or not to carry out a new safety study to set the wind standards for the use of runways at Brussels Airport.
Throughout the 50 pages of the study carried out by the Federal Mediation Service for Brussels Airport, the wind standards at Brussels Airport are analysed through the international legislation in force, the various decisions of justice, the history of ministerial instructions, and the airport’s capacity to be guaranteed for traffic.
The ombudsman comes to the conclusion that it is NOT necessary to launch yet another safety study on wind standards, especially since there are already 4 studies on this subject, 3 of which come to the same conclusion, namely a standard of 7 knots on the preferential 25R/L tracks.
Philippe Touwaide recalls that “the instruction of July 17, 2013, is considered by the Court of Appeal as the only legal, lawful and not violating any aeronautical regulation, therefore it is the only one able to produce its effects. This instruction has precisely been carried out on the basis of an EGIS-AVIA security study, so it is useless to want to continue to attempt yet another security study on an instruction resulting … from a security study“.
The Court of Appeal condemned the Belgian State for negligence in the organisation of landings on runway 01, the State must repair and restore the residents in the neighbourhood of runway 01 to the situation prior to the acts deemed unlawful. These are the instructions of August 26, 2003, and December 16, 2013, which violate the laws according to the Court of Appeal and which are based on the maximum speed of the wind in anticipation instead of the average speed without anticipation.
The current choice of runways is still carried out according to the faulty instructions of December 16, 2013. Air Navigation Service Provider skeyes bears NO responsibility in this state of affairs, having not received any new ministerial instructions since 2014.
The ombudsman insists on the fact that there is no contradictory court decision among all the judgments that are not on appeal or in cassation, and that 15 associations are in agreement with each other on certain points including the extension of the night, the prohibition of old planes and the end of night flights, that aeronautical and international regulations must be respected, such as the publication of satellite guidance procedures.
After presenting 30 proposals contained in the analysis of complaints on March 15, 2022, then requesting a ban on noisy aircraft on August 1, 2022, the ombudsman continues his tireless work of dialogue and consensus-building with his safety study presented this September 14, 2022: the average wind speed standard at 7 knots with consideration of small gusts as soon as they exceed the average wind speed by more than 5 knots is safe, compliant and respects all international aeronautical regulations.
The ombudsman demands that the overflight file be the subject of constructive decisions: the list of planes prohibited from flying has not been updated since July 2010, and 300 exemptions are still granted to certain companies which will have had 12 years to adapt, which they haven’t really done.
The Federal Minister for Mobility has received all the studies and objective and impartial analyses of the Mediator, he has all the data to move forward with real solutions in the file of overflights around Brussels Airport.
