Sustainable development in Wallonia’s airport sector: Environment and Infrastructure
At the initiative of Minister André Antoine, who manages Wallonia’s airports, a symposium was held on 25 and 26 October, which addressed the challenge faced by Wallonia and the sustainable development of its regional airports at Liège and Charleroi.
The symposium was an opportunity to showcase the policy of voluntarism adopted by this Region at the heart of Europe, as part of the regeneration of two declining industrial areas. It also enabled us to redefine the issue of public investment, taking account of European regulation of state aid.
Those involved won support by showing the new face of infrastructure that has been modernised through rational investment that combines distinctiveness with effectiveness, and conveys a strong brand-image for Wallonia in terms of economic development and jobs.
Lastly, a significant part of the symposium was dedicated to the measures taken by the Walloon Government in relation to residents, previously unpublicised in Europe. The various levers of this policy of support were described, including all the actions taken with a view to limiting the ecological footprint of the two airports, such as improving flight paths, monitoring noise nuisance (by means of an integrated system of sound-level metres) also the work put in by managers in designing and managing infrastructures and work on-site.
Immediately afterwards, the high-speed rail freight project adjacent to Liège airport was also explained, together with the synergies being created between air and rail in relation to moving people and merchandise alike, a real challenge for tomorrow’s Europe.
Among the series of speakers, all specialists in their field, there was Société Wallonne des aéroports [Wallonia Airports Company], companies that manage the airports at Liège and Charleroi, Belgocontrol, ACNAW, the promoters of high-speed rail freight, representatives of the European Commission and the Committee for the Regions, also lawyers specialising in European law.
The symposium attracted a large audience from far and wide: member-states’ governments and government departments, managers of airports within the European Union, bodies in charge of managing airport noise nuisance within member states, as well as private companies specialising in acoustics and other fields connected with the airports sector.
