For the municipalities involved, one thing is certain: noise makes people sick. That is why the impact of aircraft noise on people in the region must be reduced, not further increased. 

The airport’s capacity must be based on a workable operational concept—not the other way around. The Northwest runway has caused massive additional noise pollution in residential areas. That is why, during the planning approval process, people were assured that takeoffs over the northwest in operating direction 25 would only occur in exceptional cases in the future. It is precisely this commitment that is now being abandoned. 

During the planning approval process for the Northwest runway, the affected municipalities and residents were told that the Northwest departure routes would become virtually insignificant in the future. While in 2005, an average of around 171 aircraft per day took off via the Northwest departure routes during the six busiest months, the planning approval documents in the planning scenario assumed only about 11 takeoffs per day. This claim was used to sell the airport expansion and the construction of the Northwest Runway to residents in the northwest of the airport. 

Today, Fraport and DFS are advocating the exact opposite of what was presented at the time as having no alternative and being safe. Because the current operating concept has reached a capacity limit under westerly weather conditions, Fraport AG believes it is necessary to change it in order to handle even more air traffic. For years, it was explained that the southern bypass was absolutely necessary for safety and capacity reasons and that there was virtually no alternative. Now it is claimed that the southern bypass, in particular, is no longer sufficiently efficient or safe to use during periods of high traffic volume, and therefore significantly more takeoffs must occur via the northwest. 

This complete about-face is neither technically nor legally comprehensible to the affected municipalities. From the perspective of Fraport and DFS, the new operating concept is primarily intended to enable the handling of significantly more flight movements in the future. With currently around 441,000 flight movements per year, the expansion target of 701,000 flight movements is still far from being reached. Even today, however, operations are maintained only through numerous individual clearances that divert takeoffs from the southern bypass and Runway 18 West to the northwest departure routes. In the future, according to the presented concepts, more than 560,000 flight movements are to be made possible. During periods of high traffic volume and west-runway operations—i.e., during approximately 65 to 70 percent of operating hours—takeoffs are to be routed exclusively via the northwest to a greater extent. The previously favored southern bypass would then only be used during periods of lower traffic volume. 

From the municipalities’ perspective, this threatens a return to conditions similar to those before 2011—with additional takeoff noise during westbound operations and simultaneous landing noise during eastbound operations. Residential areas in Flörsheim, Hattersheim, and Hochheim would be particularly affected, but Hofheim as well as districts of Mainz and Wiesbaden would also face increased noise pollution. According to the figures presented to the Aircraft Noise Commission—which, however, have not yet been verifiable—the number of people affected by aircraft noise in several municipalities would rise significantly once again. The municipalities expressly point out that the presented figures and calculations cannot yet be verified. Essential data, sources, and verifiable derivations are missing. 

For this reason, a request for access to files has been submitted to the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transportation, Housing, and Rural Affairs. The participating cities and municipalities have also commissioned Dr. Martin Schröder, a specialist attorney for aviation law, to conduct a legal review of the submitted concepts. The review focuses in particular on the question of whether the new operating concept is still compatible with the principles of the planning approval decision. 

The municipalities will intensively prepare for and monitor the deliberations in the Aircraft Noise Commission. 

For the alliance, one thing is clear: The existing operating concept must finally be implemented as promised in the planning approval process and as weighed in terms of its noise impacts. If this is no longer possible with current traffic volumes, then flight movements must be reduced—not the noise protection for the public.

Speaking on behalf of the state capital of Wiesbaden, Mayor Christiane Hinninger said: “The airport operator Fraport wants to increase the total number of flight movements by more than 25%, which will lead to an unacceptable increase in noise pollution for citizens, especially in the evening and early night hours. Noise protection must not be sacrificed to the airport operator’s operational goals. Instead of focusing solely on growth, concrete measures to reduce flight movements should be taken, such as the long-overdue shift of all short-haul flights to rail.”