Neighbors file new complaint over Kolding Airport noise
Tuesday 23rd June 2026 on 17:45 in
Denmark
Residents near Kolding Airport have submitted a 40-page complaint seeking to overturn a new environmental permit that allows helicopter activity to increase by up to 2.5 times previous levels, DR reports.
The permit, issued by Kolding Municipality, would permit over 4,000 helicopter takeoffs and landings annually, compared to the former limit of 1,600. In January, the Environmental and Food Appeals Board already invalidated a similar permit for exceeding noise limits at 31 nearby properties, citing the absence of a required technical and economic assessment justifying the breach.
Bjarne Ditlevsen, the residents’ lawyer, argues the new report submitted by the airport and accepted by the municipality lacks thorough technical or economic scrutiny. “The municipality receives it without any form of criticism or examination and includes it as a municipal appendix in the new approval,” he said.
Merete Valbak, head of Environment and Green Transition in Kolding Municipality, defended the process, stating it is standard practice for applicants to provide necessary reports. “We examine the material thoroughly and assess whether it meets requirements,” she said.
The residents also question the airport’s classification as regionally important despite having no scheduled flights, calling it an “elite airport” used primarily by private owners. They note the municipality provides annual subsidies of 2.5–3 million kroner and has allocated 41 hectares of land free of charge to the airport’s operating fund, totaling 50–75 million kroner in support over the past 20–25 years.
Ditlevsen further disputes the noise calculations used in the permit, which rely on mathematical models rather than real-world flight paths. Jørn Chemnitz, chair of the Nature, Environment, and Climate Committee, agrees with the residents, stating they are left in a regulatory gap between municipal authority on the ground and the Danish Transport Authority’s oversight of airspace.
The lawyer has filed complaints with both the Environmental and Food Appeals Board and the Appeals Board.