Cities protest against postponed landing approaches

Segmented Approach

During the segmented approach (Segmented Approach) In westerly winds, aircraft no longer come in a straight standard approach route over the densely populated cities of Hanau, Mühlheim and Offenbach, but fly around them. In an easterly wind they fly a curve around Mainz.

Airplanes coming from the south fly south past these cities and are then guided in a tight arc onto the final approach of the southern runway. ann

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The “Segmented Approach” approach, against which the other cities and municipalities are protesting, has existed since 2010. However, it has only been used for delayed landings after 11 p.m. until now. In the pandemic, there are now fewer aircraft in the air, which opens up the possibility of testing the postponed approach during the day. On February 17th, the Aircraft Noise Commission (FLK) decided to test the approach procedure during the day from March 1st – from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. for some of the approaches coming from the south . The trial operation is to run for six months and will be accompanied by noise measurements. Then FLK and the Forum Airport & Region (FFR) examine the results in a joint open-ended consultation process before the postponed approach could then become the rule.

In a joint declaration, twelve municipalities in the Offenbach district speak out against adopting the approach procedure in regular operations. “In Seligenstadt, Rodgau, Obertshausen, Hainburg, Heusenstamm and Neu-Isenburg, around 100,000 people will be burdened again as a result,” says Heusenstammer Mayor Halil Öztas (SPD).

Just like Rüsselsheim, Ginsheim and Erzhausen, they demand noise reduction instead of redistribution. It is ignored that many of these cities are already suffering from the noise of nearby highways or railways. An overall noise assessment is necessary – not only measuring points for aircraft noise, but also for fine and ultra-fine dust on the new approach route. One must finally ensure that it becomes quieter – with newer, low-noise aircraft or quieter approach and take-off procedures.

The district municipalities call on the Offenbach district to show solidarity with them and want to establish an inter-municipal working group. The cities affected had already joined forces in 2010 and filed a lawsuit against the approach procedure. However, they then dropped the lawsuit because the segmented approach should only be used for delayed flights. “The topic was a few years and suddenly came out of the drawer,” says Obertshausen mayor Manuel Friedrich (independent) annoyed. Neu-Isenburg’s mayor Herbert Hunkel (independent) says: “Instead of moving the flight movements from the marginal times of day and night to the middle of the day in the pandemic, we are now being presented with a segmented approach,”

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