When we think about airports, we typically figure they’re always doing SOMETHING, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. And for the most part, that’s pretty true. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as the airport that’s closed on Christmas. And most airports aren’t available to passengers 24/7.
But although some airports may have staff in them all the time to allow for, say, late-night cleaning, maintenance, and other activities that are better done when there aren’t any passengers there, there’s a big reason why they may not have any planes – not even cargo planes – arriving or departing in the middle of the night.
Some airports have curfews
Airport curfews (sometimes called night restrictions) are rules that say no flights can take off, land or even taxi during certain nighttime hours.
Planes, obviously, are loud. And if an airport is near an urban area, where multiple people are trying to get a good night’s sleep, the sound of planes taking off, landing and taxiing could easily disturb their rest. So some cities have mandated night restrictions to allow residents to be able to sleep without the worry of aircraft noise pollution (save for, of course, emergency flights).
Which airports have these night restrictions?
It’s good to know which airports have curfews because it can help explain why you can’t get, for example, a red eye flight from JFK that lands at Heathrow before 6am – it’s because LHR (as well as Gatwick and Stansted) observed a strict nighttime curfew that runs until 6am.
Here’s a list of such airports with nighttime restrictions (note: this list may not be all-encompassing. If you know of more, please reply and add to the list. Thanks!).
The Americas
Canada
- Montreal International Airport – Departures: Midnight to 7am // Arrivals 1am to 7am (these are specifically for wide-body jets weighing more than 45,000 kg)
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – 12:30am to 6:30am
United States
- Chicago Midway International Airport – No formal curfew; nighttime noise abatement / “Fly Quiet” procedures are in effect
- Hollywood Burbank Airport – 10pm to 7am
- John Wayne International Airport – Departures: 10pm to 7am // Arrivals: 11pm to 7am // Sundays: until 8am
- LaGuardia Airport – No formal curfew, but the Port Authority sometimes pauses operations around midnight for runway work and/or noise abatement
- Los Angeles International Airport – No curfew; overnight noise abatement procedures
- Naples Municipal Airport – 10pm to 7am
- Reagan National Airport – 10pm to 7am
- San Diego International Airport – Departures: 10:30pm to 6:30am // Arrivals: midnight to 6am
- San Jose International Airport – 11pm to 7am
- Van Nuys Airport – 11pm to 7am
Asia-Pacific
Australia
- Adelaide Airport – 11pm to 6am
- Gold Coast Airport – 11pm to 6am
- Newcastle Airport – 10pm to 6am
- Sunshine Coast Airport – No strict curfew but aircraft has to receive approval to land or take off between 11pm and 5:30am
- Sydney Airport – 11pm to 6am
Japan
- Fukuoka Airport – 10pm to 7am
- Kagoshima – 10pm to 7am
- Kobe Airport – 11pm to 7am
- Narita Airport – Midnight to 6am
- Osaka Airport – 9pm to 7am
- Sendai Airport – 10pm to 7:30am
New Zealand
- Queenstown Airport – 10pm to 7am
- Wellington Airport – Midnight to 6am
Europe
France
- Paris-Orly Airport – 11:30pm to 6am
Germany
- Cologne Bonn Airport – Midnight to 5am
- Frankfurt Airport – 11pm to 5am (Also, from 10pm to 11pm, and 5am to 6am, only a limited number of flights are allowed, providing they comply with ICAO Chapter 4 noise regulations)
Hungary
- Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport – Midnight to 5am
The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Schiphol Airport – 11pm to 7am
United Kingdom
- Gatwick Airport – Night flight restrictions (quota period: 11:30pm to 6:00am). Additional limits apply late evening/early morning, depending on aircraft noise.
- Heathrow Airport – Night flight restrictions (quota period: 11:30pm to 6:00am). Additional limits apply late evening/early morning, depending on aircraft noise.
- Stansted Airport – Night flight restrictions (quota period: 11:30pm to 6:00am). Additional limits apply late evening/early morning, depending on aircraft noise.
Spain
- Madrid-Barajas Adolpho Suárez Airport – 9pm to 5am
Switzerland
- Zurich Airport – 11:30pm to 6am (and the timeframe from 11pm to 11:30pm can only be used to reduce the backlog of delayed flights)
What if an airplane takes off/lands during the nighttime restrictions?
They’re fined.
Fines are set by local and/or national aviation authorities and can run the gamut from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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