Noise impact of changing flight routes: from planning to reality

The economic importance of air travel is predicted to lead to significantly increased air traffic in the future. From 1988-2007 the average annual flight growth rate was at 4 %. The total growth of flight numbers in Europe is estimated at 19 % to 76 %. In the Irish context, the forecast is an increase in flight numbers from 18.6 % to 55.8 %. To accommodate this increasing air traffic at Dublin Airport a new runway (North Runway) was built and opened in August 2022. This paper investigates population noise exposure before and after the North Runway was opened. It is noted that currently flown routes differ from the planned flight paths. This leads to a change in the aircraft noise-affected population from both the previous existing and the planned exposure. This paper reports on a case study of how flight path choices affect exposed communities and investigates potential mitigation measures.