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Reopening of Orly airport: "No more birdsong and meals on the terrace"

2020-06-24T17:46:44.340Z


The reopening of the airport on Friday will put an end to three months of silence for the 1.9 million residents of Orly.


Luke scans the sky. Blue, calm, calm. Like a last reprieve before the return of the "bombardment". In a few days, Orly's planes will once again fly over the roof of its pavilion in Sucy-en-Brie and those of 1.96 million Franciliens, in Val-de-Marne, Essonne and Seine-et -Marl.

The airport will reopen on Friday 26 June after three months of total closure - an unprecedented historic situation - which has plunged residents of Orly into a bubble of silence.

“We eat outside on our terrace almost every day. We hear the birds that we no longer heard. Friday will be over ”, describes Luc Offenstein, vice-president of the Drapo association (Défense Riverains Aéroport Paris Orly). I really felt like I was living somewhere else, it was a radical change. The sound volume was 33 to 35 decibels during confinement, it is 37 to 45 currently. When Orly will restart, we will go to 60 decibels in the background with peaks at 70-75 decibels with each plane, knowing that when one plane has passed, we already hear the other arrive and we see four that follow. "

Podcast. Coronavirus: the day Orly, the country's second airport, fell asleep

"I sleep an additional 1.5 hours a night"

Thanks to the closing of Orly and the stopping of flights from 6 am to 11:30 pm, Luc's sleep has improved considerably: “I sleep an additional 1.5 hours per night. In the morning, bedding at 6 a.m. ended because of the first plane. I managed to wake up around 8 am, which never happened to me before, ”says this former metro and train driver,“ so used to noise ”.

He and the residents of Orly took a liking to silence: from the end of July to the beginning of December 2019, they already experienced a strong reduction in air pollution thanks to the renovation of runway 3. The planes took off and landed on runways 4 and 2, they had to modify their trajectories, flying over other areas than the usual cities. “My house is on the line with runway 3. So I was immediately relieved when it closed.”

The “bombardment” should however remain moderate at first. Airport activity will slowly take off, Air France and Hop! not ensuring any flight to Orly this summer for example, according to La Tribune. "July should only receive 15% of usual traffic," confirms Gérard Bouthier, president of Drapo, who will have detailed forecasts of flight plans this Wednesday during a meeting with the director of Orly. “Traffic will resume as before around 2023, according to specialists. "

"Our objective is not to exceed the thresholds of dangerousness in noise and pollution"

Associations take the opportunity to set foot in this half-open door. "We are preparing a well-argued letter which we will send to President Emmanuel Macron," announces Gérard Bouthier. Our goal is to officially determine the maximum noise and air pollution thresholds beyond which they become dangerous for health. As soon as these rates are reached, we no longer add a flight time slot to Orly. "

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"Today, 235,000 movements a year are authorized at Orly," adds Luc Offenstein. A plane passes over my roof every 2 or 3 minutes. Before, the ceiling was 185,000, or one plane every 4 or 5 minutes, with reduced rush hours than today. It was livable, shall we say. Let us try to return to a situation that is more acceptable to all. "

Orly, March 31. Orly airport has closed for coronavirus, the planes have since been grounded. LP / Philippe Lavieille  

Gérard Bouthier also notes that the ears of the residents of Orly have grown accustomed to the silence of recent months. "I have received dozens of emails saying: We are so happy! And at the slightest plane (note: some medical, military and freight flights took place) , I received 50, 100 emails of protest! The ear, by being attacked by these loud noises for years, has memorized these frequencies for life, according to studies. When this noise returns after a break, it is experienced as an even stronger aggression. Orly is an undeniable economic activity but what a cost for health and human life! Without forgetting that the air was the main vector of the diffusion of the coronavirus between the continents… ”

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-06-24

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