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Following is the question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (March 29):
Question:
In reply to my question at the Council meeting on October 27, 2004, the Government indicated that the Civil Aviation Department had since October 1998 implemented various flight noise mitigating measures to minimise the impact on the communities near the flight path. For example, to avoid aircraft overflying densely populated areas in the early hours, arrangements were made for flights departing Hong Kong between 11pm and 7am to use the southbound route via the West Lamma Channel as far as possible, while flights arriving in Hong Kong between midnight and 7am were directed to land from the waters southwest of the airport. However, according to the data provided by the Government in its reply to my question at the Council meeting on March 2, 2005, the problem of flight noise during the above hours had worsened in the past few years. I have learnt that up till now flight noise during the above hours still often causes nuisance to residents of many housing estates, making it difficult for them to fall asleep. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the figures on flight noise levels which reached 70 to 74, 75 to 79, and up to or over 80 decibels ("dB") during the above hours, as recorded by various noise monitoring stations in the past year;
(b) of the types of aircraft the flight noise levels of which reached 80 dB or above in the past year and their operating airline companies; and
(c) whether the existing flight noise mitigating measures will be improved to reduce the nuisance caused to residents; if so, of the details?
Reply
Madam President,
(a) At present, there are 16 noise monitoring terminals in Hong Kong. The noise events recorded at these terminals in 2005 are set out at Annex 1.
(b) The types of aircraft with noise events exceeding 80 dB and the operating airlines concerned are set out at Annex 2.
(c) Subject to flight safety and air traffic operation not being affected, the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) has since October 1998 implemented a series of noise mitigating measures to minimise the impact of aircraft noise on the communities near the flight paths. Such measures, apart from those mentioned in the question, include:
(i) to reduce the aircraft noise impact on Tung Chung, Sham Tseng and Ma Wan, all aircraft taking-off towards the northeast are required to follow the noise abatement departure procedures prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to reach a higher altitude within a shorter distance;
(ii) aircraft approaching from the northeast between 11pm and 7am have to adopt the Continuous Descent Approach when landing to reduce aircraft noise impact on areas such as Sai Kung, Tseung Kwan O and Ma On Shan; and
(iii) with effect from July 2002, CAD has banned all aircraft which has a higher noise level, as defined in Chapter 2 of Volume I, Part II of Annex 16 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, from landing and taking-off at the airport.
CAD will continue to closely monitor the flight paths of aircraft landing and departing the Hong Kong International Airport and the aircraft noise impact through the Aircraft Noise and Flight Track Monitoring System. It will also continue to closely monitor international aviation technology developments and consider all possible noise mitigating measures.
Ends/Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:18
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