Brussels Airport publishes 2023 noise contour report

Brussels Airport permanently carries out measurements to map the noise impact around the airport. You can view these measurements here. In addition, the airport also has noise contours calculated every year by an independent recognised noise expert. You can read the full report on the noise contours for 2023 here.

Number of potentially highly annoyed people is lower than in 2019

Air traffic to and from Brussels Airport further recovered from the COVID crisis in 2023. The number of flight movements grew by 7.3% compared to 2022, totalling to 192,257 movements. However, this is still 18% below the number of movements in 2019. In addition, the aircraft fleet at the airport is becoming increasingly noise efficient as more and more newest generation aircraft are added to it. These trends are reflected in the results of the noise contours: overall noise impact around the airport has increased compared to 2022, but is still lower than in 2019. In 2023, the number of potentially highly annoyed people within the Lden noise contour of 55 dB(A) (see map below) was 7% down, totalling to 13,432 people compared to 14,469 people in 2019.  

Figure: L_den noise contours of 55 and 60 dB(A) for the years 2019, 2022 and 2023

 

In more detail, the following conclusions apply:  

• For most municipalities, there is a decrease in the number of potentially highly annoyed people compared to the year 2019, with the exception of:  
  • The municipalities under the landing route to runway 01 (Kraainem, Wezembeek-Oppem, Sint-Pieters-Woluwe) where there is an increase due to the increased use of runway 01 because of meteorological conditions (e.g. more northerly and easterly winds).   
  • The municipalities below the landing route to runway 25R (Steenokkerzeel, Kampenhout) where noise levels register a slight increase.   
• The increase in population density within the noise contours also impacts the results. In this report, for the 2023 noise contours, the population figures on 1/1/2024 (the latest available) were used in the calculations. The number of inhabitants within the zone of the noise contours has increased; this in itself - i.e. without any additional noise nuisance caused by air traffic - increases the number of potentially highly annoyed people by 271 (or 2.1%) compared to the population figures of 1/1/2023.