Letter of the day: airplane noise, one more effort!

Versoix, June 18

The author of the June 14th reader’s letter entitled “Airport” seems ill-informed. As a retired employee of its IT division, I can say that CERN created the web to enable interaction with other high-energy laboratories around the world without frequent and expensive air travel. It is also the origin of remote working and teaching (zoom) during the Covid period. I understand that CERN, like many other international organizations, is asking its employees to avoid air travel whenever possible.

As Vice-President of ARAG (Association of Residents of Geneva Airport) and with detailed knowledge of all air traffic at the airport, it is clear that this reader is wishful thinking. Geneva Airport has virtually no strict noise and pollution controls to limit the impact on the environment, nor strict limits on night-time aircraft movements. Fortunately, easyJet United Kingdom has since last year rescheduled some late departures from Geneva to the UK, which were costly due to the time difference.

A bit of history is in order. Geneva airport’s fees and surcharges are based on the aircraft’s noise class. They were (under pressure from easyJet) practically abandoned during the Covid period, but have been reintroduced. In theory, these fees are intended to persuade airlines to switch to “new generation” aircraft. However, the airline easyJet Switzerland, which handles a considerable share of Geneva’s air traffic, still has (as of December 2022) no less than 80% of its fleet in “old generation” Airbus A320s. […

Le matin, les voisins de l’aéroport, à l’opposé des départs, sont survolés par les arrivées d’avions de fret et de passagers long-courriers, souvent construits au siècle dernier. Bien qu’ils paient une taxe d’atterrissage plus élevée (800 fr. pour les avions de classe de bruit 2 en provenance de Leipzig, Pékin, New York et Washington), il n’y a pas encore de signes évidents de leur remplacement par des avions de nouvelle génération. Une réponse évidente est que les redevances sur le bruit pour les avions de nouvelle génération pourraient être supprimées, mais que celles pour les avions d’ancienne génération pourraient être augmentées de manière significative. Une autre solution consisterait à n’autoriser que les avions de nouvelle génération avant 7 h ou après 23 h. […]

Mike Gerard, Vice President of ARAG

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