Court overturns approval for night flights in Dortmund
Created: 01/26/2022, 12:22 p.m
The airport tower.
© Bernd Thissen/dpa/image archive
The exceptional regulations for take-offs and landings during the night hours at Dortmund Airport are illegal for reasons of noise protection.
On Wednesday, the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster overturned the corresponding approvals from the Münster district government of August 1, 2018. As in 2015, residents living in the vicinity of the airport were successful with their lawsuits.
Münster – The court did not allow an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court.
Complaints against this are possible (Ref.: 20 D 71/18.AK, 20 D 72/18.AK, 20 D 73/18.AK).
But: Until the verdict becomes final, the controversial flights may take place in the off-peak hours of the night.
Controversial issues in the oral hearing were noise pollution in the late evening hours and the air traffic forecast.
However, the court saw no error here.
All forecasts for the flight requirements of the airlines at night have been presented convincingly on a scientific basis.
The Senate could not understand the plaintiffs' criticism of the figures.
The 20th Senate sees errors in the approval of the district government's assessment of aircraft noise pollution.
This was about the night-time continuous noise level for residents, which had not been included in the considerations.
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The court did not revoke the permit.
The deficiencies can be remedied in a further procedure.
The lawsuit brought by the city of Unna was dismissed by the court.
Here the 20th Senate lacked a necessary justification.
The airport currently has approved operating hours from 6am to 10pm.
In exceptional cases, however, an average of four landings per day up to 11 p.m. are possible.
In the case of delays through no fault of your own, the exemption is even valid until 11:30 p.m.
For take-offs, the permit provides for times up to 10:30 p.m.
If the number of approved take-offs and landings is exceeded after 10:00 p.m., the flight control department of the Münster district government must agree.
The exemption only applies to aircraft with a low-noise design.
dpa