Aircraft based at Findel airport are permitted to take off until midnight, with any later flights requiring special authorisation. But have these later flights increased recently?
At 75 metres long and weighing 450 tons, Boeing aircraft are unlikely to pass by overhead without being noticed. Gasperich resident Guy Kieffer, who has resided beneath direct flight paths in the area for the past 25 years, knows this well. But lately, he says there have been more and more flights taking place within unsociable hours.
When RTL joined Kieffer in his garden at 6am in the morning, they counted no fewer than 16 planes in an hour. Kieffer and his neighbour are particularly upset over the rise in overnight flights, which have notably increased, leading to what they term a “quality of life which has degraded in recent years”.
RTL’s team asked Findel’s flight association to clarify the number of night flights. The airport is closed between 11pm in the evening and 6pm in the morning. However, planes that are based at Findel are allowed to take off until midnight. Every flight scheduled after midnight requires a special authorisation from the Ministry and must provide a justification for the late take off.
The association says the number of night flights has actually decreased, with statistics showing levels are currently below pre-Covid numbers. Most night flights at the moment take place between 11pm and midnight.
The local citizens’ associations in Hamm and Cents regularly monitor night flight traffic, with records showing an increased number of flights occurring over a certain period. Using a special antenna, they document aircraft passing overhead, measuring both the volume and the plane’s data.
Roger Schlechter, of the Hamm Citizens Syndicate, said they had received the antenna from the Luxembourg City council in order to collect the data and engage in a conversation regarding the number of flights. The exchange had worked well for some years now, he added, with flight operators having to prove why a plane was permitted to take off or land late at night.
However, the Cents and Hamm syndicates have criticised the handling of flight noise. The data which is officially documented is not collected through actual measurements, but based on calculations, as confirmed by the environmental administration. In addition, the maps do not include flight and road traffic, so that in reality residents are exposed to much more noise, say representatives of the citizen’s syndicates.
Guy Kieffer agrees with the above criticism, saying he has measured noise of up to 90 decibels in his own garden – as much as pressure tools, and significantly more than the officially documented value of 75 decibels. He proposes the construction of an airport covering the Greater Region to ease the issue. He provided RTL with the below video from his home:
Cargolux is said to have ordered new planes, but the solution to the issue is still somewhat uncertain.