Environmental Noise Directive (END)

Airplane noise is subject to agreements within the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO, where the decisions are taken unanimously. EU itself is not a member of ICAO. EU took over a number of decisions of ICAO on noise from airplanes which have not been updated, however, for more than twenty years. Directive 92/14/EEC       based on ICAO recommendations phased out the noisiest airplanes - the so-called "marginally complying aircraft" - from 2002, however with long transition periods which had not yet elapsed in 2015 (see, for example, Directive 2002/30/EC and Regulation 598/2014).

Since 2002, EU has taken over the "balanced approach"       from ICAO, according to which measures that Member States take concerning the noise at or in the vicinity of airports should weigh up which measures are most appropriate to be taken. This balanced approach is compulsory for Member States. It obliges a responsible authority before it decides on an operation restriction, for example, a restriction on night flights, to make sure that the measure is cost-effective and that it is the last resort. European Commission, other Member States, and the affected airlines would have to be informed of the envisaged measure six months ahead; a report explaining the envisaged measure is to be added.

No consideration of introducing a general, EU-wide or Member State-wide ban of night flights or other general operation restrictions was ever made at EU level.