Now that all the large Stage 2 aircraft have been removed from fleets, what is the best approach to continued noise abatement?

The removal of the loudest large aircraft from the fleet has severely limited the opportunities to provide broad noise abatement actions through implementation of flight procedures or modifications of flight patterns.  The reduction of noise contour size that accompanied the phase out of large Stage 2 aircraft at the end of 1999 has placed greater emphasis on the second half of a balanced approach to noise management.  Prior to 2000, most of the opportunities for noise abatement came through the relocation, where feasible, of aircraft flight patterns from populated areas to areas of compatible use.  Since 2000, the focus of noise management has become more directed at the constraint of new incompatible development (residences, schools, churches, nursing homes, etc.) in areas that remain exposed to higher noise levels, while mitigating, through sound insulation or acquisition, those incompatible uses that remain.