Airlines industry not happy with the decision by Dutch Government
Flights from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will be limited to 440,000 a year, 11% less than in 2019, to cut noise pollution, the Dutch government said on Friday, drawing praise from green groups but dismay from airlines bosses.
The decision follows a move by Schiphol itself, in which the Dutch state is the majority shareholder, to impose a cap on the number passengers it can carry this summer – although that was due to staffing shortages.
The government also pointed to the airport’s impact on “nature and climate” for the cuts, following criticism from environmental campaigners and the left-wing opposition for its greenhouse gas and nitrogen oxide emissions.
The move is intended to restore “the balance between a well-operating international airport, the business climate, and the interests of a better and healthier living environment”, Transportation Minister Mark Harbers said in a statement announcing the decision.
“This is a difficult message for the aviation sector that is still recovering from the far-reaching consequences of the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.
KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, said the move, due to come into effect from the start of next year, would be “highly detrimental” and it would harm the country’s reputation as a reliable place to do business.
“It does not tally with the desire to retain a strong hub function” for Schiphol, and it would “fail to improve our quality of life and climate”, KLM said.
IATA General Director Willie Walsh called the decision “a shocking blow”.
“It comes on top of a tripling of the passenger tax, and a 37% rise in airport charges. We are seeing a throttling of air connectivity which has been steadily built up for 100 years, and supported large parts of the Dutch economy and the aspirations of millions of Dutch travelers,” he said.
IATA further claimed that, the justification put forward for the cut is not supported by facts. The government claims that the cuts will reduce noise and deliver a significant reduction in NOx emissions. But aviation’s NOx contribution is around 1% of total NOx deposition in the Netherlands, and the redistributed noise paths that are also a part of this initiative will actually increase the number of people exposed to aircraft noise.
Prior to the pandemic, aviation supported more than 300,000 jobs and €22 billion in GDP to the economy of the Netherlands. Key to this economic contribution was the connectivity driven by Schiphol’s global hub airport role. In 2019, Amsterdam was the third-best internationally connected city in Europe, behind only London and Paris.
“When governments shut down aviation in the pandemic, we all saw the terrible impact that it had on people in the Netherlands and its economy. Downsizing Schiphol will permanently destroy jobs that are only now recovering. Moreover, without the possibility to grow at Schiphol, businesses in the Netherlands will need to evaluate their future in an economy that will be moving from global gateway to regional center,” said Walsh.
Schiphol has been recovering fast since the end of pandemic restrictions. The airport has already had over 280,000 movements this year, putting it on track to reach its existing 500,000 movement limit. The previous Dutch government, recognizing the economic importance of Schiphol’s hub connections, set out a pathway for Schiphol to grow to 540,000 movements. The sudden announcement of a cut to 440,000 movements thus constitutes a 20% cut to the potential connectivity of the airport, IATA claimed.
However, Greenpeace, which had lobbied for traffic at Schiphol to be reduced, hailed the decision as a “historic breakthrough”.
“It’s good that the cabinet now realises that Schiphol has been flying past all limits for years”, spokesperson Dewi Zloch said. (Agencies)
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