Environmental association Zero on Tuesday defended a ban on night flights at Lisbon airport from 00:30 to 05:00 from the summer of 2025, warning of noise pollution caused by planes.
Zero said in a statement that 115 flights had been registered at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport in the past two weeks, exceeding the permitted limit.
According to the 2004 regulation, a maximum of 91 weekly and 26 daily flights are allowed between 00:00 and 06:00.
The regulation also established that permission to fly at night depends on the noise level of the aircraft used.
“Over the last two weeks, Zero has counted, based on public information provided by ANA Aeroportos, 139 flights (48 more than authorized) in the week from August 12 to 18 and 158 flights (another 67) in the week from the 19 to the 25 of the same month, in violation of the limits set by the legislation that opened exceptions in 2004,” Zero emphasizes.
The environmental association also points out that on the 20th of this month, between 00:00 and 06:00, 33 air movements were recorded, which “exceeds the daily maximum permitted by the exception to the general law.”
“The latest known figure for the total amount of fines applied in these cases is only 52,400 euros in 2022, which is negligible compared to the 206 million euros in health costs identified in 2019 by the Working Group of the Assembly of the Republic as part of the study and evaluation of night traffic at Humberto Delgado Airport,” says Zero.
In view of this situation, the association advocates a set of measures, namely the establishment of a period without scheduled flights from 00:30 to 05:00, “with the possibility of flexible flight delays until half past twelve at night.”
“Given the seriousness of the situation, Zero wants the authorities to apply the findings of the Working Group that analysed night flights at Lisbon Airport, ensuring that, as a first step, in the summer of 2025, landing and take-off operations are completely suspended at Humberto Delgado Airport between half past midnight and five in the morning,” the note emphasizes.
Zero also advocates “requiring the infrastructure manager to publish monthly the number of people affected by night-time noise above 45 decibels and defining a strategy for enforcing the noise law.”
The association also intends to “apply a noise tax to flights depending on their noise level” and to review fines for violating the law.
“According to the accountant Zero, presented on the page Zero.ong, the costs of not closing the Humberto Delgado airport are already approaching 10 billion euros since 2015, the year in which the infrastructure was supposed to be closed,” the association points out.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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