Noise Abatement

Noise abatement refers to a range of procedures, restrictions, and technologies designed to minimize the impact of aircraft noise on communities surrounding airports. As airports and urban areas have grown closer together, noise management has become one of the most significant operational and political challenges in aviation.

Common noise abatement measures include:

• Preferential runways: Directing traffic to runways that route departures and arrivals over less populated areas
• Noise abatement departure procedures (NADP): Modified climb profiles that reduce noise footprint over sensitive areas
• Continuous Descent Operations (CDO): Smooth descent profiles that avoid the noise generated by level segments at low altitude
• Curfews: Nighttime operating restrictions (e.g., no flights between 23:00-06:00)
• Noise quotas: Airports assign noise points to each aircraft type and limit total points per period
• Fleet restrictions: Banning older, noisier aircraft types (Chapter 2 and some Chapter 3 aircraft are now banned at many airports)

ICAO classifies aircraft noise certification into Chapters (1 through 14), with higher chapter numbers indicating quieter aircraft.