More flights should give Groningen Airport Eelde (GAE) a firmer basis for the future. That is what the airport announced today. The management also asks for clarity from regional authorities about so-called NEDAB costs.
Costs incurred in the context of NEDAB (Non-Economic Services of General Interest) include airport security and maintenance. Eelde airport recovers these costs from the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe, and the municipality of Tynaarlo. Where that used to amount to 3 million euros, it is now 4.5 million euros due to inflation.
When presenting the strategy for the airport, airport director Meiltje de Groot emphasizes that a contribution to the NEDAB costs is essential for the continued existence of the airport. “If we don’t get a contribution for that, we can close the doors. I don’t mean that at all threateningly, but it is the reality.”
De Groot therefore hopes that both provinces and the municipality of Tynaarlo will provide clarity for a longer period of time.
GAE wants to keep the costs for regional governments as low as possible and have a more stable financial basis. That basis must be created by increasing the number of flights. Nowadays, 100,000 people fly to and from Eelde airport on an annual basis. GAE wants to more than triple that number.
“We can handle 350,000 passengers a year,” says De Groot. That number must be achieved through closer cooperation with Schiphol. “Schiphol has to shrink and is in the stomach with the many flights,” says De Groot. “We can pick up some of the overflow.”
The director emphasizes that the number of extra flights is ‘relative’. “Six million people fly to Eindhoven airport every year, so we remain a small airport. But this way we can better serve our region.”
Because, according to De Groot, Eelde airport may mainly fulfill a social role (with donor and training flights), but it also has an obligation to people in the neighbourhood. “It is antisocial that someone from the neighborhood has to go to Schiphol to go on holiday.”
Talks about closer cooperation with Schiphol are ongoing and De Groot is positive. “If we want more people to fly from Eelde, we really need them. Moreover, we have the space here.”
GAE continues to urge the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management to extend opening hours. For example, instead of opening at 6:30 am, it wants to open at 6:00 am, and it wants to continue an hour longer in the evening. “If we close at 12 instead of 11, it will be easier for airlines like TUI and Correndon to have flights up and down.”
The extension of the opening hours would then only apply to ‘large commercial traffic’, emphasizes De Groot. “That does not apply to business jets.”
A study by research agency Kantar Public shows that there is broad support for the expansion. “Moreover, it fits within our environmental permit,” says De Groot. If the ministry agrees, the extended opening hours would take effect from 1 January 2025.
She also believes that CE Delft (the research agency that helped the Northern Court of Auditors with their advice) ‘doesn’t really know what she’s talking about’. “I would have preferred to see experts talk about the future of electric and sustainable flying.”