The Effects of Noise-Related Airport Charges: Greenwashing or Real Incentives for Airlines?

Abstract

Aviation noise pollution, affecting one in five Europeans and tied to severe health risks, demands robust strategies to safeguard public well-being. This paper investigates whether noise-related airport charges in the European Economic Area (2006–2024) encourage airlines to use quieter aircraft, addressing a critical gap in the literature through a brandnew dataset of 84 airports. Employing a staggered Difference-in-Differences approach with the Callaway-Sant’Anna (2021) robust estimator, the study analyses airline responses to noise charge schemes at 16 airports in 9 different countries. Findings show that noiserelated charges, as currently implemented, do not significantly influence airline behavior, with no detectable changes in the use of quieter, new-generation or winglets-equipped aircraft, with ATTs statistically indistinguishable from zero. Ineffective policy design, characterized by minimal financial incentives and inadequate differentiation between aircraft types, helps to explain these null findings. A political economy lens suggests these charges may function more as instrument of greenwashing—designed to appease community concerns while minimizing disruption to airline interests—than as genuine environmental regulation. This research highlights the urgent need for stronger, bettercalibrated noise charge frameworks to reduce aviation’s acoustic footprint, offering actionable insights for policymakers to enhance environmental regulation and protect local communities’ public health.