DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
ICAO's Chapter 4 regulations expected to will be rubber-stamped in September
Approval to apply tougher local noise limits in environmentally sensitive areas is likely to be given the green light by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Clearance for the European Union (EU) to go ahead with its controversial ban on the operation of additional aircraft hushkitted to existing Chapter 3 noise standards is expected to be given at the ICAO assembly on 25 September, senior EU sources say. ICAO declines to comment on the EU's claim.
Meanwhile, ICAO has frozen "Chapter 4" regulations setting new, lower limits on noise which will be presented to the assembly for inclusion in Annex 16 of the ICAO treaty. They are expected to be rubber-stamped. Technical officer Jane Hupe, from ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), confirms Chapter 4 regulations will come into effect for new aircraft from 2006, and noise levels will be 10dB lower than current Chapter 3 standards.
Just completed recommendations - so far unpublished - prepared by the CAEP for the assembly are the reason for the EU's confidence that it will be cleared to continue with its de facto limits on the operation of aircraft which qualify for Chapter 3 standards, but only by a small margin. These include former Chapter 2 standard aircraft which have been hushkitted to Chapter 3 standards.
This will also open the door for Europe to put limits on early model Boeing 747s and Airbus A300s, Lockheed TriStars, some McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and Boeing MD-80 series aircraft, many less than 10 years old. For these types, compliance with EU local or regional regulations would have to be achieved by limiting payload, or by hushkitting the aircraft to bring them further below Chapter 3 limits. The USA argues that this is an illegal restraint of trade, specifically affecting its hushkitting industry. The matter has been taken to ICAO for arbitration on the interpretation and applicability of its noise standards. ICAO, however, has thrown the ball back into the disputants' court, recommending a negotiated compromise.
ICAO president Assad Kotaite flagged up in April that the CAEP had been directed to examine limitations on Chapter 3 aircraft operation, but he avoided saying that environmentally sensitive regions had no right to set more stringent local noise limits. He suggests that there should be no outright ban on Chapter 3-compliant aircraft types, and that all other noise-abatement methods should be tried before locally banning an aircraft. Alternatives include using runways with fewer people living under the approach/departure paths.
Source: Flight International
