Night flight ban
A night flight ban is a flight ban stipulated by law , ordinance or restricted authority approval to protect the population against night aircraft noise . Overflights remain unaffected by this.
Exceptions exist mostly for rescue flights and sovereign air traffic for politicians, police and military . Sometimes there are exceptions for freight and mail flights .
Night flight bans are in most cases night flight restrictions for certain aircraft or flight tasks, rarely exclusive bans . The definition of night flight corresponds only approximately to the term darkness . This gives rise to the problem of noise pollution during the night.
Justifications
The aircraft noise caused by take-offs and landing approaches can pose significant health risks for residents. The reason for this is in particular the disturbance of the hormonal balance of the stress hormones , especially cortisol , as can also be observed as a long-term consequence of general sleep disorders or shift work . Using the example of Cologne-Bonn Airport, an epidemiological study demonstrated how night flight noise is reflected in increased drug consumption for some people. However, a health impairment depends on the level and frequency of sound events.
In May 2012, the German Medical Association called for comprehensive protection of the population from aircraft noise, in particular the protection of night rest. From the doctors' point of view, the noise limit values of the law should be revised downwards significantly. Doctors emphasize that aircraft noise can trigger preventable health disorders and diseases. For illnesses caused by aircraft noise there would be additional medical costs.
Situation in Germany
The essential legal bases for flight operations in Germany are the Air Traffic Act and the Law on Protection against Aircraft Noise of 1971. Neither of the two provisions can be used to derive a legally defined “night flight ban” from which a “right to night rest” or noise protection results.
However, many German airports have a restricted operating license during the night, but this may allow the operation of ambulance and rescue flights and post and courier flights. In addition, the use of aircraft types with quieter engines , so-called Chapter 3 aircraft, is partially permitted. These are aircraft that meet the requirements of the strictest noise protection class of the Chicago Convention . All commercial aircraft that are new to the market today must comply with Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to this Agreement.
Alternate flights for meteorological, technical or other security reasons are always allowed at all airports.
At Frankfurt Airport , a strict night flight ban was actually one of the conditions for the construction of the new northwest runway. This was one of the results of a three-year mediation group to which Fraport and Lufthansa also belonged. Instead of an absolute night flight ban, as applied for by Fraport, the responsible ministry temporarily approved an average of 133 nocturnal flight movements between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., 17 of which were scheduled flights between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Clock. In a judgment of April 4, 2012, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that this regulation was partially incorrect and stipulated a general ban on night flights for the core night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Brandenburg citizens are trying to get a night flight ban for the Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is currently under construction . In the period from June 4 to December 3, 2012, more than 100,000 eligible voters signed a referendum on this subject in the official registration offices. This was the first successful referendum in this state. The same project failed in Berlin.
The draft proposed by the Federal Cabinet on May 25, 2005 to amend the law on protection against aircraft noise also does not contain any legal basis for a statutory night flight ban in Germany.
Environmental organizations such as Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) are calling for a general nationwide ban on night flights from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. to protect the health of the population from noise.
| Airport | regulation | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|
| Lübeck | Night flight restriction from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. | |
| Hamburg | Night flight restriction from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM | Night mail flights
Delayed take-offs and landings until midnight |
| Bremen | Night flight restriction from 10:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Night mail flights
Delayed landings until midnight if Chapter 3 aircraft and home carrier |
| Berlin Tegel | Night flight restriction from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM | Night mail flights
Delayed take-offs and landings until midnight |
| Berlin Schoenefeld | No night flight restrictions | Between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Hanover | No night flight restrictions | Between 11:00 PM and 6:00 AM for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Münster / Osnabrück | No night flight restrictions | Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Paderborn / Lippstadt | No night flight restrictions | |
| Lower Rhine | Night flight restriction from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Delayed landings until midnight if Chapter 3 aircraft and home carrier |
| Dortmund | Night flight restriction from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Delayed landings until 11 p.m. |
| Dusseldorf | Night flight restriction from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Chapter 3 aircraft make scheduled landings until 11 p.m. and delayed landings until 11:30 p.m.
Delayed landings by home carriers until midnight and early landings from 5:00 a.m. |
| Cologne / Bonn | No night flight restrictions | Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Leipzig / Halle | Night flight restriction in passenger traffic from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
No night flight restrictions for cargo traffic |
Delayed take-offs and landings until midnight and premature landings from 5:00 a.m. |
| Dresden | Night flight restriction from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. | Delayed take-offs and landings until midnight and premature landings from 5:00 a.m. |
| Erfurt / Weimar | No night flight restrictions | Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Frankfurt | Night flight restriction from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM | Delayed take-offs and landings until midnight |
| Frankfurt Hahn | No night flight restrictions | Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Saarbrücken | Night flight restriction from 10:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Delayed landings until midnight |
| Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden | Night flight restriction from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM | Delayed landings until midnight for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Stuttgart | Night flight restriction from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM for take-offs | Landings until 11:30 p.m.
Night mail flights and military flight movements |
| Friedrichshafen | Night flight restriction from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | Landings until 11 p.m. if Chapter 3 aircraft and home carrier
Delayed landings until 11:30 p.m. if home carrier |
| Nuremberg | No night flight restrictions | Night operations between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
| Memmingen | Night flight restriction from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. | |
| Munich | Night flight restriction from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. | Night mail flights
Delayed take-offs and landings up to 12:00 a.m. and early landings from 5:00 a.m. During the night hours (from 10:00 PM to 12:00 AM and from 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM) for Chapter 3 aircraft only |
Individual evidence
- ↑ 115th German Medical Congress: Protocol of the decision (PDF; 4.0 MB), pp. 351–353, May 22-25, 2012.
- ↑ Chapter 3 Planes. Airport Association ADV, accessed on August 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Planning approval decision, p. 22 ff. ( PDF )
- ↑ judgment of the BVerwG v. April 4, 2012, Az. 4 C 8/09 u. a. ( online )
- ^ Message from the Brandenburg State Returning Officer on the referendum "Ban on night flights". ( Memento of December 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved December 4, 2012.
- ↑ Popular initiative did not come about. (PDF) Office for Statistics, accessed on October 11, 2012 .
- ↑ The night flight ban at Berlin-Tegel Airport must not be relaxed. ( Memento from April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: VCD blog , May 14, 2012.
- ↑ Night flight - strict rules for an undisturbed night's sleep. Accessed January 31, 2018 (German).
literature
- Umweltbundesamt: Impairment of aircraft noise: drug consumption as an indicator of health impairment. November 2006. ( PDF )
- Christian Giesecke: Night flight restrictions and air traffic law. Air traffic in the field of tension between economy and health . (= Writings on air and space law; 21). Heymanns, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-452-26244-8 (also dissertation, University of Cologne, 2005)
