easyJet Wins the Title of Quietest Airline at Václav Havel Airport Prague

The British air carrier, easyJet, has won this year’s QUIETEST AIRLINE contest organised by Prague Airport in co-operation with the Prague 6 Municipality. The trophy, in the form of glass swallows, was presented to the winner by Václav Řehoř, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors, and Eva Smutná, the Deputy-Mayor of Prague 6 Municipality. Alongside noise level parameters of aircraft upon arrival or departure, flight track adherence and aircraft seat capacity use, i.e. load factor, were evaluated in the contest. The airport in Prague thus annually motivates air carriers to reduce noise and pursue a considerate approach to residents of the airport’s surrounding areas.

“We are aware of the importance of our role in environmental protection. Therefore, we are proactive in this area. We strive to minimise the noise burden of civil air transport on the airport surrounding areas. In the long run, we try to motivate airlines to use modern aircraft and follow the rules, using operational, economic and technical measures. One of the most efficient motivational tools targeting air carries has been the annual QUIETEST AIRLINE contest, held since 2006,” Václav Řehoř, Prague Airport Chairman of the Board of Directors, said.

Ten air carriers, which have serviced Václav Havel Airport Prague most frequently during the year competed for the 2017 QUIETEST AIRLINE title, namely Aeroflot, airberlin, British Airways, Czech Airlines, easyJet, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair and Travel Service. The British air carrier easyJet, which had already won the contest in 2006 and 2011, won again this year, making it a three-time winner.

“We’re very proud that our modern Airbus-only fleet has proven itself the quietest at Václav Havel Airport Prague. As Europe’s leading airline, we are committed to continuing to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on local residents. easyJet has also started taking delivery of its order of 130 A320neo family aircraft, which are 50% quieter than existing aircraft on the take-off and landing phases, so we look forward to operating more of these aircraft at Prague Airport” said Thomas Haagensen, Managing Director easyJet Europe.

As every year, the contest took place during the most intense air traffic operations at Prague’s airport, i.e. from 1 May to 31 October 2017, as confirmed by statistics. “Václav Havel Airport Prague experienced the three busiest summer months in its history. Between June and August, we handled a record number of passengers, exceeding 4.9 million,” Václav Řehoř added.

“Our year-round co-operation with the airport has always been exceptional and its attempt at minimising the negative impact of its operations on surrounding areas are among the helpful steps towards Prague 6 and its citizens," Eva Smutná, Deputy Mayor of Prague 6, stated. 

The ANOMS9 monitoring system, which continuously measures air traffic noise and records trajectories of all flights, was used to evaluate the contest. The system includes 13 stationary and 2 mobile measuring stations placed at selected locations in the airport’s vicinity to ensure sufficient information values of the measurements.

Detailed rules of the QUIETEST AIRLINE contest and information regarding noise monitoring at Václav Havel Airport Prague are available online at: www.prg.aero under the Environment section. Additional information regarding air protection and air transport generated noise reduction at Václav Havel Airport Prague are provided in the 2015/2016 Czech Aeroholding Profile and CSR Report available here.