Reduction of Airplane Noise at Sofia Airport

Regarding the increasing air traffic at Sofia Airport, BULATSA, DG Civil Aviation Administration and Sofia Airport undertook additional measures to limit the airplane noise at Sofia Airport, which came into effect on 26 April.
The measures are result of the purposeful policy of the three institutions to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment in the conditions of increasing traffic. The main priority is the safe conduction of flights in the interest of both the passengers and the residents of Sofia and the surrounding villages.
A procedure is being introduced to reduce the aviation noise for departures in the east direction, which provides for taking-off airplanes heading to West European airports to climb up to the absolute altitude of 4500 feet / 1370 meters and then make a left turn. The measure will allow aircraft to not fly over Dolni Bogrov village, and if some of them still do fly over, they will be at the altitude of 1000 meters above the buildings, instead of 400 meters as it has been so far.
The aviation noise upon stopping of the aircraft, after landing at Sofia Airport runway, will also be reduced. The procedure takes into account the increased runway length and provides for the aircraft to not stop after landing using the maximum reverse engine power. This will allow noise reduction over the neighborhoods closest to the airport (Hristo Botev, Suhata Reka, V. Levski).
In the cases of mandatory take-off in the direction to Sofia city, during the time interval 23.00 – 06.00 o’clock, they will be performed from the beginning of the runway. It is envisaged the whole increased length of Sofia Airport runway to be used, which will allow the flying over the city to be conducted at a higher altitude.
A procedure to prohibit deviations from the established flight routes with the purpose of reducing the route length, at an absolute altitude lesser than 5000 feet/1500 meters, will restrict the practice immediately after take-off airplanes to take the shortest route towards the destination airport. The measure will reduce aircraft noise over Sofia city and Dolni Bogrov village.