A good 56 years after Kurt Oeser from Mörfelden, who became known throughout Germany as “Environment and Runway Pastor” because of his commitment, founded it in April 1965, the interest group for combating aircraft noise (IGF) no longer exists.

The last incumbent board of directors, made up of Dirk Treber and his wife Wilma Frühwacht-Treber, let it be known that the association has dissolved.

The reason: There are no more women and men who want to get involved with the IG.

Jochen Remmert

Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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Marc and his wife, both of whom are now around 70, are drawn to the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, in autumn the time has come.

For decades, both have campaigned against the airport expansion and with the Greens.

Dirk Treber belonged, among other things, to the first parliamentary group of the environmental party in the state parliament and worked closely with Joschka Fischer, who was Hessian environment minister of the first red-green government coalition between 1985 and 1987.

Aircraft noise is part of life

The aircraft noise and the expansion of the airport, at that time still the construction of runway 18 West, had quickly increased the number of members of the interest group to more than 10,000, according to Treber. The first 38 founding members were mostly citizens from the municipalities of Kelsterbach, Walldorf, Mörfelden, Egelsbach and Groß-Gerau, but new members quickly joined them from all over the Rhine-Main region.

After 18 West, the airport has grown by one more runway. Traffic and therefore also the noise had increased significantly up to the beginning of the corona pandemic - and after it has been overcome it will not be much lower than before. Nevertheless, the willingness to get involved in the community of interests has dwindled so far that it has been liquidated. That also has to do with the fact that more and more people have moved to the municipalities around the airport, they had not seen the time before the airport was expanded. For them, the airport and its noise are of course part of life in the region - or it is their place of work.