Maastricht Aachen Airport makes proposal to stimulate fleet renewal

Maastricht Aachen Airport has come up with a proposal to ban aircraft of the Boeing 747-200 type from 1 April 2023 at the Limburg airport. In addition, the airport wants to charge a 100% surcharge for aircraft of the Boeing 747-400 type.

Stimulating fleet renewal is part of the Parliament’s proposal that the Provincial Executive of Limburg sent to the Provincial Council today (18 November). As an airport, Maastricht Aachen is striving for an accelerated phasing out of the two aircraft types that cause the most nuisance, also according to the local residents consulted. In order to get the picture from local residents, representatives of the airport entered into discussions with local residents at the beginning of September and invited them to complete a survey. These data were analysed and compared with a report from KICL, the reporting centre for flight nuisance in Limburg.

The results of the round table discussions, interviews and survey show that cargo aircraft in general cause the most noise nuisance among the respondents. This specifically concerns the Boeing 747 series (-200 / -400 / -8), supplemented by the Boeing 777. It emerged from the conversations that the 747-8 mainly causes a lot of nuisance from noise and vibrations, and the 747- 200 and 747-400 mainly cause noise nuisance during take-off. Cargo aircraft in general are a nuisance related to noise, low flying and the creation of vortex winds.

Based on these findings, the management of Maastricht Aachen Airport has drawn up the following proposal to accelerate the phasing out of the aircraft types that cause the most nuisance.

• As of April 1, 2023, flights with Boeing 747-200 and MD11 are no longer allowed at Maastricht Aachen Airport. The airport takes into account the implementation within 90 days from the decision of the Provincial Council in December.
• Effective from the new Airport Decree, the airport discourages the arrival of aircraft type Boeing 747-400 by taxing it with a rate increase of at least 100%.
• As of 2030, the Boeing 747-400 is no longer allowed at Maastricht Aachen Airport.

“As a relatively small regional airport, this means we are ahead of the market and the natural phasing out of these aircraft types. These measures have a direct effect on noise pollution and on the income of Maastricht Aachen Airport. For example, due to the early phasing out of aircraft type B747-200, two regular flights per week will be cancelled. Then it’s about a tonne of income that we’re missing, that’s a substantial part of our income. Nevertheless, we support these measures. We want to be an environmentally aware airport. Here, we let the importance of the environment outweigh the economic importance,” says CEO Jos Roeven.

The proposal for an accelerated phasing out of these aircraft types has been included in the airport’s business plan, which is part of the state proposal. This is now before the Provincial Council.

Nov 18, 2022