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I recently took a weekend trip to Naples and went to admire the city from above at the Certosa di San Martino panoramic viewpoint which, it turned out, was also offering a distant view at NAP operations that morning (June 15, 2019, around 12PM CEST). After taking a few pictures I couldn't help but spending a good 15 minutes tracking a few landings and departures with the FlightRadar app.

Runway 24 was in use at that time, except for a single departure in that timeframe which used runway 6.

Is this a common scenario - i.e. a single aircraft taking off from the runway opposite to the one currently in use?

I know the general factors taken into account when determining in which direction a runway is used, but what could be the reasons behind such a sudden and isolate (takeoffs and landings just 3 minutes before/after used runway 24) change in the airport operations?

The aircraft in question left NAP with more than 1 hour delay, leading me to think that it could have been pilot's request to spare a few minutes: probably positioning for 6 was faster from their gate?

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It looks like the reason for the Rwy 6 departure was noise abatement. The climb gradient from 6 is not as steep as for 24. The Jeppesen charts state the requirements:

Noise abatement procedure

And it states that if you are unable to comply with the steeper noise abatement climb gradient for rwy 24 (583 ft climb per nautical mile), you should request 6 (300 ft climb per nautical mile). Maybe the plane was fully loaded and the captain wanted to avoid a fine.

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    $\begingroup$ can confirm. this is the METAR at the time: SA 15/06/2019 12:20-> METAR LIRN 151220Z 20006KT 170V240 CAVOK 31/18 Q1015 NOSIG= SA 15/06/2019 11:50-> METAR LIRN 151150Z 20007KT 170V240 CAVOK 30/19 Q1015 NOSIG= $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Jun 18, 2019 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ Light winds some 40 degrees from rwy heading. I don't think that would be reason to deny the takeoff request. $\endgroup$
    – Juan Jimenez
    Jun 18, 2019 at 11:04
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    $\begingroup$ The chart also says: If unable to comply with noise abatement procedures from RWY 24 request take-off from RWY 06. $\endgroup$
    – user14897
    Jun 18, 2019 at 11:39
  • $\begingroup$ Aha! A clue, Sherlock! Good one. $\endgroup$
    – Juan Jimenez
    Jun 18, 2019 at 11:41
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    $\begingroup$ @JuanJimenez Isn’t LIRN one of the places where financial noise penalties are easily contracted? $\endgroup$
    – Cpt Reynolds
    Jun 18, 2019 at 15:18

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