2019
14 local associations defending local residents against air pollution presented their joint position to the press on March 7, 2017, at the initiative ofUBCNA-BUTV, among others.
The conference focused on two fundamental points:
– All night flights between 10pm and 7am to be phased out by the end of 2019
– The definitive limitation of the number of annual flights at Brussels Airport to 220,000 movements per year by the end of 2019
As we’ve said on several occasions, these two conditions are fundamental, otherwise no dispatch plan will ever work.
The numerous legal proceedings instituted in connection with air pollution are a necessary evil to defend local residents, but they will not suffice … the decisions taken are not always applied and are generally the starting signal for the NIMBY (” not in my backyard “) following, …
Double the number of jobs in 2040? This is the main excuse used by Brussels Airport to push through its 2040 plan: according to these plans, the number of jobs would rise to 120,000 by 2040 (compared with 60,000 today, including those created indirectly). However, many handling and service jobs in this sector will have disappeared long before 2040, as robots will take over these tasks. Promising twice as many jobs in 2040 if the airport is allowed to double its activities is at best burying your head in the sand, and at worst profoundly dishonest. It won’t happen, and the very people who are proposing these plans today will be the first to push automation “to stay competitive”.
It has to be said that, apart from vague promises, MR has done nothing concrete to move in the only direction possible in the short and medium term: limiting the number of flights and banning night flights.
A comment on a nuisance that doesn’t get talked about enough (yet): pollution by ultra-fine particles emitted by aircraft. The health consequences are still poorly understood, but this will be a very important aspect to consider in the future. Here again, the only short- and medium-term solution is to limit the number of flights.
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