Belgium pressured to ditch night flight rules

Date: 12/06/03

THE European Commission has turned up the heat on Belgium, demanding it abandon plans for national rules restricting night flights to and from all Belgian airports.

The rules will contravene a new EU directive on airport noise, the Commission has warned.

So it has issued Belgium with a 'reasoned opinion' - the final warning before an infringement case is brought before the European Court of Justice.

The forthcoming Belgian law will restrict night flights for older aircraft fitted with so-called hushkits designed to reduce their noisiness, in line with EU rules passed in 1999.

However, these have now been replaced by the bloc following a long trade dispute with the United States over European hushkit controls.

Entry into force of the Belgian law is due on 1 July and the Commission is desperate to see it overturned or adapted to the airport noise directive by then.

Isabelle Durant, the original architect of the Belgian proposals, resigned suddenly from her post of transport minister last month over a separate issue concerning night flights, just days before the general election in the country.