Noise pollution is still a problem in Barcelona El Prat airport.
Over 10 years ago, the airport of El Prat (Barcelona) was enlarged to include a third runway, which led to an increase in the capacity of flights using the airport.
Because of the runway’s geographical position in an unsuitable location, and the fact that it is very short, the aircraft that take off and land there using the third runway cause pollution problems for the populations of the nearby towns of Gavá and Castelldefels.
In adverse weather this means that the aircraft fly very low over the roofs of the houses, causing a great deal of noise.
Since more than 10 years, inhabitants of the two towns have held demonstrations in protest at the serious problem caused by aircraft noise.
“The European Commission considers environmental noise one of the major environmental problems in Europe.”
17 November 2006, in the European Parliament, Willy Meyer Pleite wrote a written question about the noise pollution problem at Barcelona airport to the European Commission.
10 years after Willy Meyer raised the question for the first time in EU, the nearby towns of Gavá and Castelldefels are still waiting for a final solution to the problem.
“What’s the Solution for El Prat’s aircraft noise?”
The ironic part of this story is that there is already an optimum and logical solution to the problem -The best and most cost-effective solution is called “Project 05-23”. The Project was launched in 2013 by Ayuntament de Castelldefels and AOGA. The basic idea is the construction of a new runway 05-23 overlapping the current runway 07R-25.
The construction of the runway 05-23 would entail a drastic reduction of the acoustic footprint on the territories of Cavá and Castelldelels. The noise pollution would fall over the Mediterranean Sea.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/v-qkIOzQcDc[/youtube]
“Money: The Ultimate Problem Solver?”
unfortunately, the nearby town’s inhabitants probably will have to live for many more years to come with the noise pollution. The best solution to the problem costs hundreds of millions of Euros and nobody seems interested in financing it. Not even the European Union.
Did you know? All runways are numbered based on the magnetic azimuth (compass bearing) in which a runway is oriented. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36. So, the actual El Prat runway 07R-25 is at a 70 degree heading.