The State is appealing against the ruling on the reduction in the number of flights at Schiphol. At the beginning of April, the court ruled that the government should not limit the number of flight movements this year because the correct procedures were not followed.
The government wants to reduce the number of flights to limit (noise) nuisance. The maximum number of flight movements should be reduced from 500,000 to 460,000 this year. By the end of 2024, the counter should be at a maximum of 440,000.
But airlines, including KLM, challenged the measure through summary proceedings. The court ruled in their favor, because the adjustment according to European rules requires a careful process. For example, the government should ask all stakeholders for their opinion.
The government has initiated these procedures, but can only complete them before 2025. The court’s ruling would therefore delay the reduction in the number of flight movements.
Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure) does not want to simply accept this. “The ruling is not in the interest of the people living near Schiphol,” the minister explains in a letter to the House of Representatives.
Schiphol already wants to limit the number of flights
Schiphol, wholly owned by the State, had already presented a plan a few days before the ruling to reduce the number of night flights and flights by private jets within two years in order to reduce noise nuisance for local residents. That saves at least ten thousand night flights.
Although the intermediate step of 460,000 flights has been rejected by the court, the airport is still heading for a reduction in the number of flight movements to 440,000.
