The UNION BELGE CONTRE LES NUISANCES DES AVIONS ( UBCNA ) association, which defends local residents of airports in Belgium, particularly in Brussels, its suburbs and Walloon Brabant, agrees with the analyses of the Minister for Mobility, members of parliament, the air transport administration, the aeronautical inspectorate and the federal mediation service: BELGOCONTROL is NOT complying with ministerial instructions in the choice of runways in use, say Bernard GUILLAUME and Peggy CORTOIS.
It’s clear what everyone has been thinking for a long time: BELGOCONTROL refuses all controls, believes itself to be above the law, doesn’t want any DGTA (air transport) audits, and interprets ministerial instructions in its own way: BELGOCONTROL does NOT recognize the TAF and METAR systems used at airports all over the world, and changes runways at Brussels Airport according to purely political criteria, anticipating 6 hours ahead on the basis of weather forecasts and estimates, instead of working in real time with 30-minute forecasts.
For UBCNA, BELGOCONTROL’s autonomy only applies to its mode of economic management, but BELGOCONTROL has neither autonomy nor power of appreciation nor the right to haggle over the instructions of the Minister of Mobility and/or his Air Transport Administration; BELGOCONTROL is bound by law to strictly apply without modification all instructions dictated to it and also to respect all court decisions.
The UBCNA is calling on the Federal Parliament to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry into this state of affairs, and for all those involved in the Belgian aviation industry to be questioned by parliamentarians in order to demonstrate BELGOCONTROL’s flagrant failure to comply with legal and regulatory provisions.
We cannot tolerate BELGOCONTROL’s contempt for its Minister in charge, its administration, and the decisions of the courts, as it considers itself unaccountable, and arrogates to itself the claim to be a state within a state.
Please accept our warmest regards.
Bernard GUILLAUME
Former Member of Parliament
President UBCNA-BUTV vzw
Peggy CORTOIS
Managing Director UBCNA-BUTV vzw