Aircraft noise social cost and charge mechanisms – a case study of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

The increasing trend of charging for aircraft noise nuisance to encourage the sustainable development of the air transport industry has resulted in a need to evaluate the real social costs of such externalities for the formulation of effective charge mechanisms. After comparing the current charge mechanisms at world airports as well as reviewing existing externality measurements, mathematical models are developed to calculate the noise social cost in monetary terms, and noise charge mechanisms are subsequently established. The hedonic price method is applied to calculate the annual social cost of aircraft noise during the landing and take-off stages of the flight. This is done by estimating the implicit costs of aircraft noise imposed through a decline in property values in the vicinity of the airport. The empirical results, using Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as the case study, show that the current noise charge level imposed by the Dutch Government is lower than the actual noise social cost resulting from aircraft movements. Several noise charge mechanism scenarios are derived according to the modelling results, as well as the environmental objectives of the airport related authorities.