Dublin Airport has been granted planning permission to raise the number of night-time flights it can operate and to extend the hours that its second runway can be used.
The airport has been permitted to increase the number of flights taking off and landing between 11 pm and 7 am from an average of 65 to 95.
Until now, flights were not allowed to take off or land on the second runway between 11 pm and 8 am, but services can now use the runway up to midnight and from 6 am.
An Coimisiún Pleanála requires Dublin Airport to restrict the number of night-time flights to 35,672 to "protect residential amenity."
In its decision, the planning authority said the airport shall be subject to a 'Noise Quota Scheme' between the hours of 11 pm and 7 am, limiting the types of aircraft that can fly to and from the airport overnight based on the level of noise they emit.
Dublin Airport will be required to submit quarterly reports on its implementation of the quota with information on the number of aircraft operating overnight, their type, and technical details such as their engines and take-off weights.
The airport will also be required to issue annual reports on its noise performance with noise exposure statistics and details of the number of local residents who are "highly sleep disturbed" and are "highly annoyed" by late-night flights, as well as a summary of complaints.
Dublin Airport will also have to establish a voluntary residential sound insulation grant scheme for local residents to insulate their bedrooms and lofts from aircraft noise.
The Commission said it had decided to apply both a cap and a noise quota, believing that a quota system alone "could permit an increase in the number of night-time flights, without adequately considering the cumulative impact of increased flight volume on surrounding communities and environment."
An Coimisiún Pleanála issued a draft decision on night-time flights last September that was criticised as contradictory for extending the operating hours for night flights by two hours and replacing a cap on night flights with an annual night-time noise quota.
It also said that it would limit night flights between 11 pm and 8 am to 13,000 annually, and the second runway could only be used for departures between 6 am and 8 am.
At the time, Dublin Airport operator DAA said the draft ruling would reduce the average number of night flights from 65 to 35.
*This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.ie.
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