Madrid airport ordered to lower noise level
Submitted by William Kaelin on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 17:57.
Spain's Supreme Court has ordered Madrid's Barajas airport to lower its noise level in a ruling which was announced on Tuesday.
The court accepted an appeal against a ruling by a lower court, which had found the noise level tolerable.
A complaint had been lodged by five residents of Ciudad Santo Domingo, located 18 kilometres from the airport.
The locality had been overflown by about 56,500 airplanes, some of which were flying under the recommended altitude of 655 metres for 2.5 years between 2002 and 2004.
The airport authority AENA had to find a way to reduce noise and to pay each of the plaintiffs 6,000 euros (7,650 dollars) in damages, the court said in the ruling, which was described as unprecedented in Spain.
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