Over the years a number of measures have been taken to abate the noise around the airport.

Flight ban

Chapter 2 aircraft have been banned from Europe since April 2002. This ban is a result of Council Directive 92/14/EEC, imposing a gradual abolition of these aircraft between 1995 and 2002 (Royal Decree 17 September 2000).
Since 2008 marginally compliant aircraft have also been banned between 11pm and 6am.

Quota restrictions

On the basis of an arithmetic formula, each plane is allocated a certain "quota count" (QC) - a quantity of noise, as it were - for arrivals and departures (QCA = Quota Count for Arrival and QCD = quota count for departure) during the night and in the early morning. The QCA and QCD are determined on the basis of the noise certificate. By setting a maximum value on the authorised noise quota per flight, noisy aircraft are banned during this specific period.

A few typical QCA and QCD values are:

On 25 October the noise quota system became more stringent as a result of the Schouppe Plan. The new restrictions make Brussels Airport one of the strictest airports in Europe with regard to noise control.

At night (between 11 pm and 6 am) and in the early morning (between 6 am and 7 am) the maximum authorised noise quota count is reduced from 12 to 8 and from 24 to 12 respectively.

Quota count restrictions also apply during the day (between 7 am and 9 pm) and in the evening (between 9 pm and 11 pm).
The Ministerial Decree of 27 July 2009 laying down the rules allows for a few exceptions and provides for transition periods to enable the carriers concerned to adapt their fleet. Click here for an overview of the new restrictions.

Furthermore, the overall noise quota of all individual departure movements during the night is restricted per aviation season. In this way, extra stimulus is provided to use less noisy aircraft.
 

The overall noise quota of all individual movements during the total of nights is restricted per aviation season. The use of less noisy aircraft increases the possible number of flights.

Restriction of the number of night slots

The coordinator of Brussels National Airport is permitted to allocate no more than 16,000 night slots per calendar year, of which a maximum of 5,000 slots will be for outbound flights.

Silent weekend nights

Since 25 October 2009 the introduction of silent weekend nights at Brussels Airport has been completed. This means that the coordinator at Brussels Airport may no longer allocate slots for takeoffs during the night from Friday to Saturday between 01.00 am and 6 am and during the other weekend nights between 00.00 am to 06.00 am.

Differentiation in landing fees

Landing and take-off fees take into account the acoustic performance of the aircraft. The more noise they produce, the higher the fees. Older, noisy planes pay 10 to 40% more than modern, less noisy types in the same weight category. These differences in price are meant to encourage the use of less noisy aircraft.

To discourage night flights, landing and take-off fees are considerably higher during the night.

The rates are based on a formula U x W x E x D, composed of:

• the uniform rate U: 2.08;
• the maximum departure weight W in tons: minimum 25 and maximum 175;
• the environment impact factor E: 4 categories with a factor of 1.7, 1.2, 1.0 and 0.9 respectively;
• a day or night factor D: factor 1 and 2.25 respectively.