The most significant environmental consequences arising from aviation activity in airports is the problem of noise that affects large areas, far beyond the limits of the airport itself.

The air routes of aircraft taking off from BGN pass over areas that are intended to provide aerial “right of way”, allowing aircraft to enter Israel and leave it with minimal nuisance to local residents.  Nevertheless, for various reasons, the open areas are shrinking and land uses that are sensitive to aircraft noise are located under the air routes.

Regulating this subject in the National Master Plan should prevent continuation of the trend of bringing sensitive land uses within aircraft noise areas.   In blueprint no. 3 of the National Master Plan (Aircraft Noise Areas - ANA), areas of “noise equivalents” are defined as an outcome of the operating model (see the blueprint).  The areas are shown in ANA 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the instructions specify the types of land use permitted in each ANA, or under what conditions their development can be approved for that area.

In the IAA’s Planning Division there is a unit for planning coordination, whose tasks include reviewing plans submitted for approval by the planning institutions, checking how far they comply with the plan’s instructions.

In 2002 the Unit for Planning Coordination, together with the Environmental Quality Department and the Legal Office, dealt with 22 plans with respect to the degree in which they comply with the construction restrictions in aircraft noise areas.