Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol may shrink from 500,000 to 460,000 yearly flights, court rules – KLM disappointed

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The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam has ruled that Amsterdam Schiphol, the main airport in The Netherlands, may still reduce its annual flights from 500,000 to 460,000.

The state and the airport had appealed a previous decision by a judge, who ruled that Schiphol must go through time-consuming procedures before reducing the number of flights.

Last year, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management had initially decided to reduce flights to 440,000 due to noise nuisance but later reconsidered the decision, pending assessment by the European Commission.

The court ruled that an experimentation scheme to reduce aircraft noise may continue, despite objections from national and international airlines, including flagship airline KLM. The latter reacted disappointedly, as shown hereunder.

KLM reaction to appeal:

The court has ruled on appeal that a temporary experimental scheme would not violate the Aviation Act, provided a number of conditions are met.

We are disappointed about the ruling and are studying it. The court does not specify in concrete terms how an experimental regulation can be applied. As a result, it is currently unclear when, how and in what way the ruling will be implemented and what it means for the number of aircraft movements at Schiphol.

KLM will continue to engage with other stakeholders in seeking the best way to reduce the number of people affected by aircraft noise. To this end, we have submitted a plan for cleaner, quieter, more fuel-efficient flight operations on 15 June. We are convinced that these measures will enable us to reduce noise impact and CO2 emissions, while retaining our network. We would very much like to achieve this in cooperation with government and airport authorities, Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL) and other stakeholders, within the framework of the balanced approach required by the EU in the context of the noise reduction targets the ministry has set.”

This post was published on 7 July 2023 17:46

André Orban

M. Sc. Engineering

Published by
André Orban

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