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The State may not reduce the number of flights at Schiphol to 460,000

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Skip Navigation LinksRechtbank Noord-Holland > Nieuws > The State may not reduce the number of flights at Schiphol to 460,000
Haarlem, 05 april 2023
The State may not reduce the number of air transport movements at Schiphol from 500,000 to 460,000 for the 2023/2024 season. This emerges from a judgment in preliminary relief proceedings by the North-Holland District Court. Several airlines had filed the preliminary relief proceedings against the State and Schiphol. The court has ruled that the State did not follow the correct procedure. As a result of this decision, Schiphol may not reduce the maximum number of flights to 460,000 for the coming season.

Policy on 500,000 flights

In 2008 the Airport Traffic Decree set the maximum number of air transport movements for Schiphol at 480,000 in a single year. From 2015 the State accepted a maximum of 500,000 air transport movements in a single year, provided that the conditions for ‘strict preferential runway use’ were met. This means that the nuisance to the surroundings needs to be kept as low as possible by using take-off and landing runways correctly. The State pursued this policy in anticipation of a new Airport Traffic Decree, in which these rules and the maximum number of 500,000 air transport movements were to be stipulated. 

In mid-2022 the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management informed the House of Representatives that the new Airport Traffic Decree would not be implemented yet, because in connection with the nitrogen problem Schiphol lacked a nature permit. The minister also mentioned that the council of ministers intended to seek a new balance between the interests of aviation and the surroundings. Ultimately, therefore, the council of ministers aims to reduce the maximum number of air transport movements allowed for Schiphol to 440,000 in a single year. The State intends to do that in two steps. In the first step, the State wants to introduce a temporary arrangement for the flying season from November 2023 through October 2024, by which the maximum number of air transport movements allowed will already be reduced to 460,000. In the second step the State aims to curtail the maximum number of air transport movements to 440,000 in a single year.

KLM and a great many other airlines object to the intention of the State and Schiphol to reduce the number of air transport movements by the 2023/2024 season. They argue that the State should have followed the procedure prescribed by European law first. They note that airlines structure their operations for the long term. Accordingly, they argue that they should be able to rely on retaining the current capacity of a maximum of 500,000 flights, until a new maximum has been determined. To that end, the prescribed procedure requires the State to consult the airlines as well.

Ruling by the court in preliminary relief proceedings

The court in preliminary relief proceedings has ruled that by introducing the temporary arrangement envisaged, the State has not followed the correct procedure. According to European rules, the State may reduce the number of air transport movements of an airport only after completing a careful process. That process includes: the State is required to identify various measures that may reduce the noise, the State needs to consult all interested parties, and reducing the number of air transport movements is allowed only once other measures to curtail noise have proven insufficiently effective.

The court in preliminary relief proceedings has determined that the State has started that procedure aimed at reducing the number of air transport movements to 440,000 in a single year from the 2024/2025 season. But the State did not follow that procedure for the envisaged temporary arrangement, in which the State wishes to reduce the maximum number of air transport movements allowed to 460,000 for the upcoming 2023/2024 season. This procedure needed to be followed, concludes the court in preliminary relief proceedings. 

Interests of local residents

The Stichting Recht op Bescherming tegen Vliegtuighinder [Foundation for the right to protection from aircraft nuisance] joined these preliminary relief proceedings as a party siding with the State. According to this foundation, conducting 500,000 air transport movements conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights. 

The court in preliminary relief proceedings has ruled that there is a complex assessment of the interests of local residents, the inhabitants of the Netherlands wishing to travel, the economy, the airlines, Schiphol and the environmental interest. These preliminary relief proceedings are not suited toward this purpose. The court in preliminary relief proceedings has ruled that the State is required to perform that assessment in the procedure prescribed by European law. The foundation has therefore not been proven right that the State needs to reduce the maximum number of air transport movements allowed for the coming season.

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