Active Noise Abatement

The aim of Active Noise Abatement is to reduce noise directly at the source and to minimize the noise footprint – especially in those areas around the airport that experience a high level.

Overview

As a member of the Airport and Region Forum (FFR), Fraport is intensively involved in the planning and implementation of active noise abatement.

With noise-related take-off and landing charges, noise-reducing flight procedures and noise-displacing regulations for night-time flights, Frankfurt Airport has been a pioneer in active noise abatement for decades.

Even before the opening of the Northwest Runway in 2011, experts in the FFR and its predecessor, the Regional Dialog Forum, actively planned and tested noise-reducing measures. On this basis, 19 measures of active noise abatement were agreed upon for further review, testing and implementation in the “Together for the Region – Alliance for More Noise Abatement 2012” declaration in February 2012.

The FFR’s experts are still working continuously on noise attenuation procedures. The program of measures currently being worked on originated in 2018 and essentially focuses on the refinement of existing procedures and the cultivation of new potential. The Committee resumed this work in 2022 following delays caused by the pandemic.

 

The noise respite procedure has been in place since April 23, 2015. This entails noise respite periods for some residents, alternating between 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The procedure thus extends the night flight ban for these residents by one hour.

The monitoring report published by the Hessian transport ministry (HMWEVW) on February 11, 2016, confirms a significant reduction in the noise footprint. These results were also presented to the Aircraft Noise Commission on March 9, 2016. In the summer of 2023, Fraport gave a presentation to the FLK reviewing the application of noise respite periods since 2015.

The noise emission ceiling (or noise cap) was implemented in 2017 as the last voluntary measure of the noise abatement package that resulted from the mediation process for the construction of the Northwest Runway.

Monitoring reports and further information on the noise emission ceiling at Frankfurt Airport can be found on HMWEVW’s website.