Suvarnabhumi noise lawsuit tossed

An aircraft prepares to land at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Residents affected by aircraft noise have filed a series of complaints and lawsuits since the airport opened on Sept 28, 2006. (Bangkok Post file photo)

The Central Administrative Court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit filed by residents living near Suvarnabhumi airport who sought a ban on night-time flights and compensation for noise pollution.

The case was lodged by 30 residents who said they were affected by aircraft noise from the country's main airport. They separately took the matter to court between 2010 and 2012, and their cases were later consolidated.

The locals wanted the AoT to ban all flights between 11pm and 5am every day, carry out a new environmental-impact assessment, and the NEB to declare the airport a source of pollution and set control measures.

They also claimed the EIA report issued on March 10, 2005, a year and a half before the airport opened, was illegal.

In rejecting all the plaintiffs' claims, the court ruled that suspending all night flights would have an adverse impact that far outweighed the plaintiffs' right to have a good night's sleep.

The court also said that since Suvarnabhumi's construction had been approved in 1991, long before the EIA-related Section 56 of the 1997 constitution and other environmental regulations, the 2005 EIA report was valid.

The court also judged that inspections by the Civil Aviation Department showed noise pollution generated by the airport was still below international limits. Thus, the court ruled, banning all night flights was not necessary.

In their suit, plaintiffs, led by Narongsak Duangnin, also had demanded they be compensated for property damage caused by aircraft noise, and expenses paid for sound-proofing their homes. The compensation demanded ranged from 100,000 baht to 780,000 baht.

In their petition, the residents accused the AoT, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, the transport minister, the finance minister, the NEB, and the cabinet of negligence in failing to minimise noise caused by the airport's operations.