For years the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has opposed further residential development in Dulles Airport's flight paths and has adamantly opposed new noise studies, but now -- amid growing noise complaints -- MWAA has agreed to conduct a new noise study of its operations.
For more than two decades, the county has relied on boundaries drawn up based on a noise study from 1993 to determine the noise zones around the airport. The county restricts residential development in areas near the airport that experience high volumes of noise from airplanes.
MWAA has been an outspoken critic of allowing more residential development near its flight paths because of fear it could impact airport operations.
Last year, residents across the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area filed a record number of noise complaints for flights from Reagan National and Dulles International airports. Airport officials logged a total of 42,683 complaints about flights at National and Dulles in 2016, compared to just under 10,000 in 2015, according to an Associated Press report.
