Total airport noise exposure is still below pre-COVID level but local situations may differ
Following the trend in traffic, the total noise exposure at 98 major EU27+EFTA airports, as measured by the Lden and Lnight indicators,2 was still below but close to pre- COVID levels in 2023. The total population inside the Lden 55 dB and Lnight 50 dB airport noise contours were 10% and 4% lower than in 2019 respectively (
). These thresholds of 55 and 50 dB were chosen based on the reporting thresholds specified in the Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/EC). However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified that negative health effects start to occur at noise levels below these thresholds
[6]
, suggesting that the above exposure estimates could underestimate the actual number of people at risk of health impacts due to aircraft noise exposure. See Chapter 2 on Environmental Impacts for further information on the impacts of noise based on the data reported under the Environmental Noise Directive.
The census database used to assess population inside noise contours has been improved compared to the previous report (see Appendix C for more details on data sources), leading to an overall increase in all population- based indicators. However, the trend of the indicators over time is similar with that shown in the previous report.
Under the three traffic scenarios, fleet renewal with the latest generation of quieter aircraft is still expected to stabilise or even reduce average noise exposure until 2040 in terms of the Lden and Lnight indicators. This is primarily due to the renewal of the single-aisle and twin-aisle jets in the fleet which account for the bulk of landing and take-off noise energy (respectively 71% and 21% in 2023, see
). However, noise impacts may increase again in the longer term if manufacturers do not develop new quieter aircraft that can offset the effect of traffic growth.
The total indicators hide the diversity of trends between the 98 major EU27+EFTA airports included in the assessment. Between 2019 and 2023, the area of the Lden 55 dB and Lden 50 dB contours has actually increased at 32 and 43 of those airports respectively. The top 10 airports in terms of Lden 55 dB population exposure still accounted for half of the total population exposure across all 98 airports during 2023
How many airports are covered by the Environmental Noise Directive?
70 airports had more than 50 000 movements (departures and arrivals) during 2023 in the EU27+EFTA region. This is still below the 2018 peak (77 airports) but the number is expected to increase further and could reach 85 by 2050 under the base traffic forecast. All airports with more than 50 000 annual movements are included in the EAER assessment, as well as additional airports below the movement threshold in order to obtain a more comprehensive overview of aircraft noise within Europe (see Appendix C for the list of 98 airports).
Aviation noise in context
Based on data reported by Member States every five years under the Environmental Noise Direc- tive 2002/49/EC, it is estimated that in 2021 avi- ation represented around 11% of people who are highly annoyed by noise, based on exposure exceeding the WHO guideline values
[11]
. In terms of the number of people exposed above safe (WHO) guideline values, aviation repre- sented about 10% of the EU27+EFTA population exposed to Lden levels above 45 dB and 4% of the population exposed to Lnight levels above 40 dB in 2021. While this is a smaller share than road and railway, aircraft noise is generally perceived as more annoying than road or railway noise and health effects exist at noise levels around 10 dB lower than other sources
[6]
.
2 Lden is the sound pressure level averaged over the year for the day, evening and nighttime periods, with a +5 dB penalty for the evening and +10 dB for the night. Lnight is the sound pressure level averaged over the year for the nighttime period only.
