Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will significantly reduce its operations after a ruling from Amsterdam Court of Appeal. The court has ruled that Dutch government can continue with plans to reduce Amsterdam Airport’s annual flight capacity in an attempt to reduce the noise pollution and help the country meet its climate goals.
The decision came as a major blow to the airlines as they will be impacted by this measure with reduction in annual flight capacity to 440,000 from the current 500,000.
This decision by the court is considered to be the most drastic decision taken in the EU to tackle noise and pollution caused by the aviation industry, and was challenged by KLM, easyJet, Tui and Delta.
The decision is not likely to have an immediate impact as flights are still not fully operational. The airlines are still rebuilding their network capacity, and the airport had just 400,000 movements last year, down from its 2019 peak of 497,000. If sustained, the decision will apply to the operating year 2024, for which tickets are already on sale, and it can potentially be extended by another year.
On Wednesday, April 5, a judge at the Noord-Holland court ruled that the Dutch government had not followed the correct procedure to cut the number of flights. According to European rules, any state wanting to reduce the flight capacity of any airport can only do so after consulting relevant stakeholders, including the airlines. A process that did not happen before the announcement of the restrictions.
The decision can be appealed to the Dutch Supreme Court.
KLM has separately introduced plans to decrease noise levels while maintaining the same number of flights with 44 measures to improve the living environment for Schiphol’s neighbors, including phasing out all flights between midnight and 05:00, banning private jets and the noisiest planes, and abandoning a previously announced project for an additional runway.
The airline is also seeking to reduce noise pollution by introducing newer-generation aircraft that are quieter and come with reduced emissions. KLM announced last month it had placed an order for 100 Airbus A320neos and A321neos to replace its smaller and older Boeing 737s.
