ACG Air Cargo Global (Bratislava) has returned to Brussels National after a six-month hiatus despite the risk of noise fines, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported.

The Slovak cargo airline stopped all activities at Brussels in mid-May 2017 after the Brussels Capital Region introduced more stringent noise limits during night time. As a result, ACG relocated two B747-400(F)s from the Belgian capital to Amsterdam Schiphol. However, it has now been forced to move back after the Dutch slot coordinator cut thirty-seven out of 150 weekly cargo flight slots there due to capacity restrictions. Amsterdam airport is by law limited to 500,000 movements a year while it already reached 479,000 in 2016.

According to De Tijd's sources, the airport authorities fear that ACG might leave Brussels again at any time since the noise limits have not been relaxed.

Singapore Airlines Cargo and Emirates have also relocated some flights from Amsterdam to Brussels in recent weeks. Yangtze River Airlines, another airline which left the Belgian capital earlier this year, is also considering a return according to the Belgian newspaper's report. For the time being the Chinese operator moved some of its flights from Amsterdam to Frankfurt Hahn.

In February the local authority in the Brussels Capital Region imposed more stringent limits between 11pm and 7am. Cargo airlines, often operating during the night hours, have been particularly hit. Even though the government has suspended the enforcement of the fines for 1.5-2 years, airlines have been struggling with legal uncertainty since at any moment the authorities might start demanding payments. On top of that, since the fines are already being issued, airlines need to include them in their books as liabilities even if payments are not collected.

The new limits have been criticised both by the Brussels Airport, a privately-owned company, and the regional government of Flanders, a federal region of Belgium in which the airport is located.