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Noisy airport

noise pollution threatens to close the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The airport is located in the heart of Europe's most densely populated region, an urban sprawl stretching from Amsterdam through The Hague to Rotterdam. Amsterdam's air traffic has almost doubled since 1990 and is up 11 per cent this year alone, causing the airport to crash through its legal noise-pollution limits. Airport authorities have responded by bringing down the number of flights at night from October 2. "You can't sleep with your windows open or go out in the garden because of the aeroplanes,' complains Leo Mesman, a member of the Haarlemmermeer Municipal Council. Some 200,000 complaints about aircraft noise are expected to be lodged this year on a telephone hotline

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