Brussels Airport is on track to follow in the footsteps of its near neighbour just over the border at Schiphol by extending its curfew on night flights, limiting the number of late departures and arrivals, and reducing the tonnage of aircraft allowed to fly over the area at night.

Schiphol recently announced plans to ban overnight flights at the major travel hub among a number of measures in a bid to reduce noise pollution, the Netherlands airport also shelving plans to build a new runway.

The Brussels government has debated similar proposals, the environment minister, Alain Maron, describing the plans as looking to “find a balance between the challenges for public health and for the economy”.

Maron believes that noise pollution in the Flanders region where the airport is located is an issue for residents, with extending the current night flight curfew from 23.00-6.00 to 22.00-7.00 among the plans discussed. The proposals were debated at government level recently with unanimous support from both French and Dutch-speaking ministers.

The move comes in the midst of a number of court cases regarding noise from Brussels Airport, with the airport’s current environmental permit due to expire mid-2024.

Amongst other plans, the government wants to see fewer noisier jets in airlines’ fleets, a ban on flights between destinations that can be reached by train in less than six hours – measures in line with a target to reduce all pollution around the airport.