According to Harbers, the ‘ruling is not in the interest of those living in the vicinity of Schiphol’. ‘It is not yet possible to restore their legal position. For that reason, I have decided to appeal against the judgment of the preliminary relief judge’, he writes in an explanation to the House of Representatives. Local residents previously spoke of ‘the worst possible outcome’.
A number of airlines filed a lawsuit against the state that wants to reduce the number of flights, so that air traffic would remain within the noise limits after years of tolerance. Schiphol should reduce from a maximum of 500,000 to 460,000 flights.
But according to the judge, Harbers did not follow the correct procedures. European rules stipulate that the state may only reduce the number of air transport movements at an airport after going through a careful process, the so-called ‘balanced approach’. And that didn’t happen.
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