The areas around Canada’s airports are hotspots for noise pollution but Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he wants to quiet things down a bit for nearby residents.
On Friday, Garneau sent a letter to the president of Air Canada, asking the company to take steps to reduce the noise one of their models makes on approach.
The fleet of A320 planes makes a notorious whistling sound on approach. Garneau said retrofitting the planes with an air-flow deflector provides an easy solution.
“Although substantial progress has been achieved in addressing the effects of aviation on the environment, and although aircraft produced today are 75-percent quieter than they wer ein the 1960s, noise from aircraft continues to be a public concern,” Garneau said in the letter.
Garneau noted that Air Canada is responsible for the majority of A320 flights in Canada and asked that the deflectors be installed as part of their existing maintenance schedule, with all planes retrofitted by 2020. The modifications would reduce noise by five to 11 decibels on the planes, according to Garneau.
“I believe this action will be positively received by airports and communities across Canada, including those near the Aeroports de Montreal and Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport,” he said.
Pierre Lachapelle, who leads a citizens’ group called Les Pollues de Montreal-Trudeau, which tracks noise pollution near the airport, said the problem is larger than the A320. He called for a curfew on planes of all sizes, saying even the smaller turboprop can disturb sleep.
“The actions in the last years of the Pollues de Montreal-Trudeau has never been concentrated or focused on the kind of airplane,” he said. “Small or big, they are noisy. We would like to see what the global plan of the minister is.”
Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment.
