The Dutch authorities want to limit the noise and have put forward plans to gradually reduce Schiphol airport’s annual capacity by 12 percent to 440,000 departures by 2024. The plans three months ago received the thumbs down from a local court, which indicated that the proceedings had not followed correct procedure .
NOT SATISFIED: Marjan Rintel, who heads the KLM division of the airline group Air France-KLM. Foto: Bloomberg
But on Friday, the decision was overturned by an appeals court, reports Bloomberg. The verdict is a blow to airlines such as Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and EasyJet, as well as the industry association IATA, which recently labeled the airport as “the world’s worst” after an increase in landing fees.
– The disruptions in the flow of traffic are terrible, the performance is miserable and at the same time they will increase the fees, said IATA chief Willie Walsh during the association’s annual meeting in Istanbul.
KLM is disappointed
KLM, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of the traffic at Schiphol, is disappointed by Friday’s decision and writes in a press release that the company will study the judgment to evaluate the effect on the number of departures. The judgment from the Court of Appeal states that any fear in the airlines that they will be seriously damaged by the cut plans was no reason to come to a different conclusion.
According to the news agency, the court writes in a statement that the cut plans are not in breach of national and European law. They do not contravene “general principles of good administrative practice”, nor European rules on so-called “balanced approach.”
Night closing?
The airlines and IATA, on the other hand, claim that the cutbacks violate international regulations and are a disadvantage for travelers. As a first step, the Dutch authorities have proposed a temporary regulation that cuts the annual capacity to 460,000 departures from November this year.
BUTCHER SCHIPHOL: IATA chief Willie Walsh. Photo: West Nusa Tenggara
The Schiphol management expects further clarification from the authorities within two months, in time to nail down capacity for next year’s summer season. According to Bloomberg, the management is continuing the planning of measures that were presented in April, measures that include, among other things, night closures and a ban on private flights.
Figures from Airports Council International Europe show that close to 53 million passengers traveled through Europe’s largest transit airport last year – a position Schiphol occupies ahead of Istanbul and London Heathrow.
2023-07-07 12:02:15
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