Airbus supports new noise standard

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) has adopted a new noise stringency level for commercial airplanes. The milestone achieved at the CAEP meeting last week lowers the current standard by seven decibels. Having now been agreed by the ICAO CAEP, the new stringent noise standard will be presented for final review and approval by the ICAO Council later in 2013. This new standard will come into force on the 31st December 2017. At Airbus, innovation and technology are key to provide aircraft that generate fewer emissions and less noise while carrying a maximum payload over the mission range. All Airbus development aircraft (NEO and A350 XWB) are designed to be compliant with the new noise standard. In addition, Airbus continues developing new solutions to further reduce the operational noise. Several functionalities are available such as the Automatic Noise Abatement Departure Procedure (NADP) that optimises the thrust and flight path to reduce noise over populated areas. In the UK, which has the strictest noise regulations in the world, the A380 was given an award for its quiet operations by the UK Noise Abatement Society in 2012.