2024-08-07 05:48:49
Urged from 2025 reduce the number of night flights until 2028 – to refuse completely
A. Zuokas offers from 2025 reduce the number of night flights from 24 hours until 6 o’clock in the morning, completely abandoning them until 2028. With this initiative, the politician claims that he aims to ensure that conditions are created in Lithuania to protect the health and well-being of the population, as well as to contribute to environmental protection and the fight against climate change.
According to him, scientific studies show that night noise has a negative impact on human health, and night flights also contribute to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which have a negative impact on the environment.
A. Zuokas notes that many cities and countries around the world have already introduced restrictions on night flights, which positively affect the quality of life and travel of local residents, and residents have the right to rest at night. According to him, more than 150 thousand people suffer directly from the noise caused by flights. Vilnius residents living in Žirmūnai, Antakalni, Užupi, Markučiai, Naujininkai and Salininkai.
LTOU: The idea threatens the reach of the country
However, Lithuanian airports criticize A. Zuoka’s initiative and assure that the implementation of the proposed changes may pose a threat to the accessibility of the country. LTOU notes that it pays a lot of attention to reducing the impact of noise on people, and residents located closest to airports are compensated for the installation of noise reduction measures.
“We view the idea of limiting night flights as a threat to the accessibility of the country. First of all, because it is necessary to assess the context and possible consequences in detail – it is very likely that such an action would have a negative impact on the general communication of the country through the main airport of Lithuania. Passengers, the country’s tourism sector, business attractiveness, and the economy in general would be affected,” said the LTOU’s comment sent to Elta.
“Complete restrictions on night flights are certainly not a common practice throughout Europe, it is more of an exception – looking at the total number of airports in all EU countries. Even with night time restrictions, there is no one universal practice, there are quite a few exceptions in place at certain airports for various flights and they really do happen at any time. Both Riga and Tallinn airports do not have any restrictions on night flights”, notes Lithuanian Airports and adds that the introduction of a ban on night flights in Vilnius is likely to have a negative impact on some flights and their frequency would be reduced.
LTOU explains that the time of flights between Vilnius and important aviation centers (English: “hub”) is coordinated in great detail with the technical capabilities of those centers, and not all times for the flight (English: “slot”) are chosen completely freely, so it can be performed only when there are opportunities to do so.
“Airlines also coordinate in great detail with their flights to other major aviation centers in Asia, North or South America. In addition, the Baltic countries are one hour in a different time zone from many Western and Central European countries, as a result of which some flights from major European cities arrive only relatively late, having departed at a convenient time from European cities. “After losing some morning flights from Vilnius, travelers from Lithuania would not be able to catch most of the connecting flights,” Lithuanian airports state.
“Restricting the airport’s working hours would increase flight prices,” the comment emphasizes.
Vilnius Municipality: the issue will be discussed at the Council meeting at the end of August
Gabrielius Grubinskas, media relations specialist of the Vilnius city municipality, confirmed to Eltai that the capital’s Council has prepared an action plan for noise prevention for the next four years, and A. Zuokas raised the idea of including his proposal in the plan at the meeting of the City Development Committee. As a result of the committee’s approval of the initiative, the matter will be discussed at the Council meeting at the end of August.
“The municipality has prepared and plans to approve the Noise Prevention Action Plan for the years 2024-2028. During the consideration of this plan at the meeting of the Urban Development Committee, the member of the committee Artūras Zuokas put forward a proposal to include in the plan a provision regarding the gradual night flights from 0 am to 6 am. refusal. Since the committee approved the proposal, it will be considered at the Council meeting at the end of August”, said G. Grubinskas.
at Vilnius airport from 24 h. until 6 o’clock in the morning, there are on average about 20 flights, almost half of which are charter flights – leisure travel flights.
2024-08-07 05:48:49