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Late Night Noise Limitation Program

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About the late night noise limitation program

The Late Night Noise Limitation Program is a new, voluntary Port of Seattle program designed to reduce late night noise at SEA Airport by encouraging air carriers to fly during less noise-sensitive hours or transition to quieter aircraft.  The program was developed to increase air carrier awareness of the impact of aircraft noise on local communities.  

  • Focuses on the hours of 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. to help alleviate late night aircraft noise within the community
  • Captures noise levels for any take-offs and landings between these hours using four close-in airport noise monitors; noise level data collection began July 1, 2019
  • Reports out any exceedances of noise thresholds to the public and air carriers on a quarterly basis
  • Beginning in 2020, a penalty score will be assigned as part of the Port’s Fly Quiet Incentive Program if an operation exceeds an established noise threshold
  • Single Event Noise Exposure Level (SEL) is the metric the program uses to measure aircraft noise at the four monitors. SEL is measured in decibels and represents the total sound energy from an aircraft operation at a given location.

Noise monitors

The Late Night Noise Limitation Program is an outcome of the Sea-Tac Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART).  StART, formed in 2018, brings together the Port, FAA, air carriers, and local airport communities to support collaborative dialogue on airport-related issues and to identify practical solutions to reduce the airport’s impacts on local communities.

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Noise Monitors and Noise Thresholds used for Late Night Noise Limitation Program

The four close-in monitors used to capture noise are monitors SEA12 and SEA13 north of the runways and SEA18 and SEA19 south of the runways.

To expand the Noise Monitor Map and view the established noise threshold at each monitor, please click the map. Learn more about the Port's Aircraft Noise Monitor System, including approximate address locations for the above-mentioned sites.

For any questions, comments or concerns regarding Airport Noise, please contact the Airport Noise Programs Office by phone at 1 (800) 826-1447, (206) 787-5393 or by contacting us using our comment form.

4th quarter, 2023 late night noise limitation program report

All airlines with late night operations that exceeded noise thresholds during the quarter are displayed below along with their late night total operations and the exceedance percentage of their late night total operations. They are ranked from the most exceedances to the fewest.  For a more detailed look at the specific operations that exceeded thresholds along with a list of all airlines that operated during these hours, please view Full Report.

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Airlines with exceedances during late night hours in the 4th quarter, 2023

Airline Name

Type*

Total Late Night Operations

Total Number of Exceedances

Percent of Exceeding Operations

China Cargo Airlines CRG 59 27 46%
FedEx Express CRG 69 24 35%
ATI (Amazon Prime Air) CRG 302 23 8%
EVA Airways PAX 147 21 14%
Korean Air Cargo CRG 31 20 65%
China Airlines Cargo CRG 54 18 33%
Cargolux CRG 14 9 64%
Asiana Airlines Cargo CRG 9 8 89%
Kalitta Air CRG 6 4 67%
United Airlines PAX 233 3 1%
Alaska Airlines PAX 914 3 Less than 1%
Atlas Air CRG 10 2 20%
American Airlines PAX 329 2 1%
Sky Lease Cargo CRG 1 1 100%
National Airlines CRG 2 1 50%
ABX Air CRG 13 1 8%

*Operation type is indicated with "PAX" for passenger airline carrier or "CRG" for cargo airline carrier

Airlines with no operations during late night hours in 4th quarter, 2023:

Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, Aer Lingus, Finnair, British Airways, All Nippon Airways, Jazz Aviation, Qatar Airways, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui, Volaris

Late Night Noise Results

1Q2023 2Q2023 3Q2023 4Q2023
1Q2022 2Q2022 3Q2022 4Q2022
1Q2021 2Q2021 3Q2021 4Q2021

 

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