Knowledge Base

Does airport expansion always benefit the economy of a country?

29th January, 6pm (CET) A new report from the New Economics Foundation and T&E argues it does not. Its author Dr Alex Chapman…

New report compares rail and air fares

A new report from Greenpeace Europe has found that of the 109 cross-border routes analysed only 39% were cheaper by…

New report on air and rail fares

A new report from Greenpeace Europe has found that of the 109 cross-border routes analysed only 39% were cheaper by…

September 13th: International Day for the Ban on Night Flights

UECNA is supporting the initiative from Stay Grounded for the second ‘International Day for the Ban on Night Flights at…

New Report: millions impacted by noise

A new report from the European Environment Agency has found over 20% of Europeans — more than one in five…

Best Practise At Airports

Some airports are much better than others at consulting with residents and local communities and using best practice measures to…

Airspace Changes – Update

Across the world airspace is being modernised. Many flight paths may change. And narrow, concentrated flight paths, known as PBN,…

Are you an active person?

This question is meant to give you insight into how important you can be to others. You don't have to…

How to influence your government

There are different ways for trying to influence authorities: see the slides of the webinar on Strengthening your position. [dflip…

How aircraft noise disturbs your life

HACAN – the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise – has today released 12 videos it shot where…

Coalition petitions Parliament to ban night flights

A coalition of 140 organisations met with European Parliament representatives on Tuesday (18 November) to ask for a ban on flights operating…

Violation of the European Convention on Human Rights

According to the court, people living near Schiphol have not been sufficiently protected against the noise pollution caused by aircraft…

Genevois voted for democratic control of their airport

Geneva airport, like London City airport and probably many other airports, is situated in the middle of living accommodation: it…

Faster trains ensure fewer aircraft

For many travellers, travel time is the main reason for choosing the plane. People often think that flying is much…

Research health risks ultra fine particles around Schiphol Airport

The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment presented a research program at the Environment Council Schiphol that should answer the…

Offer Help

This is a personal story about fifty years of experience with participation, the last eighteen of which have been with…

Complain to local authorities

Airports and local authorities often have an online facility for submitting complaints about aircraft noise. Sometimes you can provide an…

Demonstration

In November 2023, action groups in the Brussels region held a large demonstration that made it into the national press.…

Third Party Risks: a crash

Third party risks: that’s why WVB joined UECNA In October 1992 a cargo plane crashed in a flat building in…

Some facts and history about Orly

By Evelyne Bourner at the 50th anniversary of UECNA on 20 October 2018 In the sixties the epic of the…

Hydrogen and synthetic fuels more than theoretical alternatives?

Hydrogen and synthetic fuels more than theoretical alternatives? By Manfred Peter This work is an attempt to summarise the main…

Aviation & Hydrogen

All the information summarized below is the result of the compilation of numerous international studies aimed at understanding what can…

Tourism’s impact on climate change

On November 15 Paul M Peeters presented his doctoral thesis at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) about the impact…

The Illusion of Green Flying

This article is – with courtesy of Finance & Trade Watch, Vienna, Austria – published on our website. You can…

Roadmap to decarbonising European aviation

Aviation is already a major and growing emitter. In Europe its emissions have doubled since 1990, and globally they could,…

Threat of night flights in Geneva

The horror schedule of night flights In my opinion, dialogue with the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (OFAC) is…

The Health Impacts Caused By Night Flights

By Eleftheria Emfietzi Sleep is a biological imperative, and a very active process that serves several vital functions. Undisturbed sleep…

Why is the reduction of night flight traffic so important

Introductory statement on the Air Traffic Events round table Dr. Manfred Peter 24.03.2023 The current regulations on night flights at…

Night Flight Bans in Germany

By Manfred Peter To support the considerations for a night flight ban at Vienna Airport and to classify such a…

Fear that noise may lose out to climate

There is a pervasive fear amongst noise campaigners that they are losing out to climate activists By John Stewart Of…

Noise limits of the Brussels Region

Strict application of noise limits in sight Report from Bruxelles Air Libre Brussel (BALB) to the UECNA meeting on 1…

‘Less Aircraft Noise in Europe!’

Presentation of Dominique Lazarski at the conference Noise in Europe (slides) Look back the conference, including parallel session 1: Ideas…

Future aircraft design and impact

A summary of the 22nd Workshop, 6 September 2018 at NLR, Amsterdam by Wouter Looman 1. Future aircraft design Engines…

Electric Planes Also Make a Lot of Noise

Electric planes could be here sooner than we think but might do little for noise By John Stewart In less…

How aircraft noise is measured

Using the right metric to measure noise annoyance from aircraft is very important. Each of them measures something slightly different…

Sound Solutions to Aircraft Noise

By John Stewart During my 20 years chairing HACAN, the organisation which gives a voice to residents under the Heathrow…

UECNA Briefing on Drones and Air Taxis

Pictures like these are becoming familiar. We are told drones and air taxis will soon become commonplace in our skies.…

Supersonic aircraft could be on their way back

Supersonic aircraft could be on their way back. The early push came from America. But now Europe is consulting on…

Things can only get better?

A review of aircraft noise in the UK By John Stewart The last ten years have not been good for…

Guide to the 2018 WHO Noise & Health Report

By John Stewart The World Health Organisation (WHO) report published on 10th October, updating its earlier noise guidelines, contains a…

Effects of Aircraft Noise on Human Health & Wellbeing

Preamble There have been a long series of scientific studies of effects of chronic (i.e. repeated) aircraft noise pollution on…

State Aid to Airports and Airlines

Guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines In 2014 the EU published its guidelines on state aid to airports…

Good Operational Practice

'If some airports can operate more quietly, why can’t they all?' On July 15 we had a structured discussion on…

Cooperate to help authorities make better decisions

The authorities are not happy with complaining citizens. They will be surprised if you want to help them. For example,…

Quiet Communities

‘Aviation-impacted communities are experiencing mental & physical health impacts that extend beyond annoyance’.

Health, climate: three associations take Beauvais Airport to court

The associations Notre Affaire à Tous, Sauvez le Beauvaisis and ADERA are today taking legal action before the Administrative Court…

Action at Gatwick

Aviation as a debilitating illness

The theme does fit the number 13 video (although it is only the third one in English). We analyze aviation…

Two Cups Of Coffee

You are annoyed by aircraft. And you are not the only one in your neighborhood. You have important things to…

Towards an Alternative Aviation Bill

The Dutch government recently presented a new Aviation Bill. It led to massive criticism because it is entirely based on…

The Elephant in the Room

Dutch citizens have made a video about aviation policy in the Netherlands. The government is ignoring the public interests of…

Limiting Flights, by Heart or by Court

The only way to reduce the harmful effects of air traffic in the short and medium term is to reduce…

Aviation and the power of ICAO

The Netherlands wants to reduce the number of flights to and from Schiphol Airport because of the noise nuisance for…

Aircraft Noise: Stealthily Violence

The Dutch government tries again and again to put people to sleep that it is not too bad with that…

The impact of ultra-fine particles

Flight Noise and Cardiovascular Diseases

Webinar No 21 Speaker on March 25 2025 was Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Münzel about the impact of aircraft noise…

Health and learning

Webinar No 20 Speaker on January 27 2025 was Prof.Charlotte Clarke who talked to us about the effect of a…

Frequent Flyers Levy

Webinar No 19 Speakers on November 13 2024 were: Magdalena Heuwieser, one of the co-ordinators of Stay Grounded, will talk…

The impact of ultra-fine particles and low frequency noise on human biology and health

Webinar No 18 On September 16 Dr Ourania Konstanti from the University of Athens teaches cell biology and bioinformatics in…

Noise & Health

Webinar No 17 On June 24, 2024, dr Omar Hahad, one of Europe’s leading specialists on the effects of environmental…

International Panel Discussion on Metrics

Webinar No 16 Do we get more disturbed by aircraft noise than the official figures show? Is there a right…

The potential of rail to replace short-haul flights

Webinar No 14 How to get people take the train instead of an aircraft? UECNA is looking for support for…

External cost of aircraft noise

Webinar No 12 Presented by two experts from the renowned Dutch consultancy, CE Delft, Arno Schroten is an expert on…

Ultra-fine particles from aircraft

Webinar No 11 Debi Wagner, longtime activist at Seatle-Tacoma International Airport and specialist on the topic, outlined community concerns. The…

Caps on flights at Airports

Webinar No 10 A cap on the number flights allowed to use an airport – a good idea? UECNA chair…

Air Taxis & Delivery Drones

Webinar No 9 Especially if you’re not interested in the topic, you should check it out. Because if you ignore…

Can new aircraft be designed to cut emissions and noise?

Webinar No 7 Finlay Asher spoke, followed by questions and discussion.

Noise Metrics

Webinar No 6 Our Webinar on Noise Metrics was on March 22nd 2022. It looked at the best ways to…

Best Practices for Dealing with Airport Communitie

Webinar No 5 Our first webinar in 2022 was on February 3rd. In this webinar, we showed some of the…

Successful Campaigning

Webinar No 4 At our general meeting on December 11, 2021, we had a webinar about organizing a successful campaign.…

Economic benefits and costs of aviation

UECNA recommendation 1 Under the current business mode aviation does not pay its full external costs. It needs to do…

Economy does not grow due to Schiphol expansion

A growth in the number of flights at Schiphol Airport does not benefit prosperity. A shrinkage does not necessarily have…

How Essential Are Night Flights?

Careful reading of the key reports published over the last decade and a half suggests many night flights are less…

Main Airport Statistics

Download the Charles de Gaulle statistics over 2025 provided by UECNA Download the European main airports statistics over 2024 provided…

Reducing the number of flights with the Balanced Approach

Webinar No 15 March 4, 2024 To reduce air noise pollution from Schiphol Airport the number of flights has to…

A system to allow residents to measure plane noise & track flight paths

Webinar No 13 EANS is a pure form of citizen science is developed by Frankfurt residents, and is now used…

Strengthening your position on aviation towards your government

Webinar No 8 UECNA Board Member Wouter Looman spoke about strategies to influence local, regional and national politicians. Are you…

Emissions of air transport

Summary memo to better understand the problems and issues There is often confusion, when talking about emissions from aircraft, between…

Let’s cap aviation

On International Noise Awareness Day, in 2024 on April 26th, and during the two weeks following it, local communities have…

Ciampino airport (Italy)

Roberto My name is Roberto Barcaroli, I am the spokesperson for the Committee for the Reduction of the Environmental Impact…

A Sea of Protest across Europe

Nantes Victory Blog

Theirs is the remarkable story of turning a small, rural campaign into one of the biggest environmental movements in Europe.…

The German Heathrow updated

The result was a victory for the very impressive campaign which brought together climate activists, led by Young Friends of…

Stop New Runways

Over the past 15 years there have been successful campaigns against new runways and new airports in many parts of…

Victory Against All The Odds

The story of how the campaign to stop a third runway at Heathrow was won. “The victory was no fluke.…

National aviation plans: little climate friendly

NGO Transport & Environment drafted a ranking for EU countries on energy and climate plans. We cut out the aviation…

Airspace Change and Performance Based Navigation

Webinar No 3 November 24, 2021. Across the world airspace is being modernised. Many flight paths may change. And narrow,…

Noise Monitoring

Webinar No 2 Noise Monitoring was the second in a series of online seminars organized and took place on November…

Night Flights

Webinar No 1 The first UECNA seminar on Night Flights on October 21 2024 was a great success with participants…

EANS European Noise Measurement System

EANS, European Aircraft Noise Services, is an umbrella organisation measuring disturbing aircraft noises. Published via the internet, those measures provide…

Aircraft noise increases risk of heart disease and strokes

Study links aircraft noise from Heathrow to increased risk of heart disease and strokes. Deaths from stroke, heart and circulatory…

What was happening in the Netherlands in 2024?

The Dutch administration aimed to reduce the number of flights from 500 to 440 thousand due to too much aircraft…

Campaign and lobby groups

Links to other campaign and lobby groups Do you have any additions? Let us know! Europe-wide Transport and Environment (T…