Wathelet dispersion plan for Brussels Airport

[Passenger]

EU politicians this week used an airport noise vote to voice grievances over new Zaventem airport flight paths that send planes straight over the EU quarter.

24 Februari 2013 was a Sunday, ut 24 February 2014 was a weekday. Thus not a fair comparison.

[Established02]

security concerns over allowing planes to fly so low over the European Council building even while all of Europe's heads of state and government are inside

It may definitely help to finally put some double glass in all these EC building windows. Hopefully this will reduce a bit the overwhelming sound impact of all those overflying whisper jets.

Or are they actually suggesting that some 911-wannabe pilot might actually come up with this yawning idea to dive an A319 into the EC building, while all of these important excellencies are wining and dining together?

NATO is definitely not worried about these kinds of pesky little problems. They're now building their new HQ even more under the flight path of 25R/07L.

Not mentioned in this article, but I assume they also have security concerns over allowing planes to fly so low over creches, schools, stadiums, factories... even while all of these children, students and employees are inside!!!

[Passenger]

security concerns over allowing planes to fly so low over the European Council building even while all of Europe's heads of state and government are inside

It may definitely help to finally put some double glass in all these EC building windows. Hopefully this will reduce a bit the overwhelming sound impact of all those overflying whisper jets.

Or are they actually suggesting that some 911-wannabe pilot might actually come up with this yawning idea to dive an A319 into the EC building, while all of these important excellencies are wining and dining together?

No, but those Eurocrats do a first nap between 10h and 12h and a second nap between 14h and 16h. Although they can't hear those whisper jets during this job, their presence causes a psychosomatic trauma for them.

[Passenger]

The cdH proposals will be discussed during Friday's Ministerraad / Conseil des Ministres (18/04/2014).

The report from all latest meetings are online. It seems that the strong anti-BRU statements by the cdH and MR were indeed for electoral purpose only. Although Milquet told us that the night curfew was going to be discussed on the Ministerraad/Conseil des Ministres, it seems that she failed to realize it...

NL:
http://www.premier.be/nl/cm
FR:
http://www.premier.be/fr/cm

[Passenger]

Next episod in this Belgian soap: "the Brussels City Council joins the party":

FR:
http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/bru ... d9af1e17d1

NL:
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland ... utes.dhtml

[airazurxtror]

Wathelet is being let down by his own political party including his president (Lutgen). Some say that the "Wathelet plan" will be largely altered in the near future - before the elections, at any rate.(see "Le Soir", today, page 5).

[teddybAIR]

typical example of a politician who received the latest polls and found a demographic that still had potential. Then let's see which files I can abuse to get some free publicity a few weeks before the elections. Also nice to see that apparently decisionc CAN be taken and implemented within weeks if their is a real drive to reach results...curious to see if Mr Wathelet will be able to work at the same pace AFTER the elections

[regi]

I mentioned some years ago already that just south of Brussels, there is a very large green area without habitation, called Zonien forrest " .
Have a look at Google Earth and those unaware about Belgian geography will be flabbergasted. "What the heck is this?"
When the so called ring road around Brussels was made, the very influential people could avoid that the ring would be ...a ring. Now it is just a stupid oval, to avoid disturbance of those influential people.

The current airport of Zaventem is also a move away from the city centre , on a place where it would give no disturbance for those influential people.

Masterplan central Belgium 2014:

• Cut down the Zonien Forrest , and fill up the landscape.
  Construct that bloody ringroad as it should be, OK, 90% underground
  Construct a state of the art new airport with 3 runways

We should not bother about the decrease of value of real estate in those areas , because it belongs to the families who decided decades ago so bluntly in favour of their personnal interest.

Pro's: tabula rasa and at last some fairness.
many good jobs ( and a boost for bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar in Charleroi )
new airport
no more influence by politicians who play the local / regionnal language game.

Contra:
cost ( discussable, it can also be a pro in the long term )
disappearance of the Zonien forrest. ( but it is no excuse, we have knocked down so many other forrests in the name of progress. And we can plant enough trees somewhere else )

5 minutes political will ? I just need 1 second to put my hand writing under my own law.
Make me president/king/emperor/dictator or whatever and a brand new airport will raise out of the ashes of the Zonien Forrest

[Squelsh]

Forget the lgg and crl part... Of course it could go anywhere. And crl does follow a curfew also.
The discussion here is about bru. And only bru.

"If the Flemings complain so much about noise from the airport of Zaventem, then a relocation of the air transport and all the associated jobs to the airports of Liège and Charleroi is a great alternative, said minister of Mobility Melchior Wathelet (CDH) in De Morgen."

http://www.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/als-p ... 42837.html

Edited: unsuitable sentence removed. Please provide at least a short English summary of text published in other languages.

[Acid-drop]

it's an english forum, we should try to give an enlgish translation. Auto translate is better than nothing for sure.

Here is the story in FR also:
http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/nui ... 2383c5aa58

And the summary in english :
"if people can't handle the noise, there are alternative airports"

but as I said before : the airlines will chose, not the gov. They may just chose another alternative outside belgium => dangerous.

[sean1982]

Its only allowed when its french

One could assume that this walloon politician send those flights over Brussels city on purpose in order for the discussion to re-start so he could make a case for moving flights to the walloon airports?

[Acid-drop]

One could assume that this walloon politician send those flights over Brussels city on purpose in order for the discussion to re-start so he could make a case for moving flights to the walloon airports?

I love the conspiraty theory
Could well be the case if that guy didn't kill himself for the election in 2 weeks.

[sean1982]

Kill himself? I'm sure that the airport workers at CRL and LGG love this story especially now that CRL is in threat of being reduced to what it was 10 years ago

[Acid-drop]

20.000 people like the story
and 1,3 millions hate it around brussels

[RoMax]

What are you trying to say, that this is not some kind of electoral stunt? In Wallonia there will be hundreds of thousands of people that like what he says now and around Brussels they will certainly not mind him saying traffic should move to CRL and LGG.

[sean1982]

Exactly, thank you romax. The only enemies he is making now are the flemish people and in the mean time pushing n-va a few percentages higher again!

[teddybAIR]

If only these children calling themselves toppoliticians new how much harm they do to our country's econmy by creating so much uncertainty around our economic strongholds...

[Passenger]

Huytebroeck (Ecolo) want the closure of Brussels Airport because she, as an eco-fundamentalist, hates everything with a fuel-powered engine. Wathelet (cdH) wants that employment at BRU moves to LGG and/or CRL (= he said this on VRT Radio). Put those two together, and you get this:

"...Selon les auteurs de l'étude de l’ULB sur l'impact du plan Wathelet, la ministre bruxelloise Huytebroeck (Ecolo) a présenté le 27 février une carte des nuisances tronquée. Cette dernière s'en défend, mais reconnaît que ses cartes sont imprécises en raison de l'absence de données scientifiques... Les experts de l'ULB indiques que la ministre bruxelloise de l'Environnement a sérieusement exagéré l'impact des mesures du "Plan Wathelet" mises en œuvre depuis le 6 février..."

Source - more details:

http://www.lecho.be/actualite/economie_ ... .art?ckc=1

[teddybAIR]

Huytebroeck (Ecolo) want the closure of Brussels Airport because she, as an eco-fundamentalist, hates everything with a fuel-powered engine.[/i]

I suggest she stops breathing, because in doing so she generates CO²!

[regi]

Huytebroeck (Ecolo) want the closure of Brussels Airport because she, as an eco-fundamentalist, hates everything with a fuel-powered engine.[/i]

I suggest she stops breathing, because in doing so she generates CO²!

I suggest that complainers about air polution by aviation never use an airplane anymore, certainly if it is to get political attention and some free trips to the sun:
Ecolo Tiberghien in Tunesia: I guess he didn't take the boat...
http://luctiberghien.blogspot.be/2012/0 ... icipe.html
And what would have been the carbon footprint of the official visite by Madame Durant to Haiti? http://vimeo.com/60477432