KLM is going for first place and wants to grow again at Schiphol, but what will the judge decide?

The preliminary relief judge of the court in North Holland will decide no later than April 7 whether Schiphol may be allowed to shrink from 500,000 to 460,000 flights per year, or whether aviation will be given ample opportunity to grow again. No less than 15 airlines, with KLM in the lead, today challenged the cabinet’s decision to shrink. It was clear that a lot is at stake, because even the judge was amazed when he saw a ‘record number’ of 29 lawyers in the courtroom in Haarlem.

With today’s summary proceedings, which lasted almost nine hours, the airlines wanted to convince the judge that the cabinet had taken a reckless decision to shrink Schiphol. The State and Schiphol itself claim that reducing the maximum number of flights to 460,000 per year is necessary.

Not only is there too much noise nuisance, Schiphol has also been unable to comply with the rules required by law to handle 500,000 flights per year for 8 years. This is partly due to the lack of the necessary nature permit.

The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) therefore had to turn a blind eye for years: because the number of flight movements is not yet legally established, Schiphol cannot be punished if they violate the noise rules. According to Minister Harbers of Infrastructure, this is no longer legally tenable, which is why he decided last year that Schiphol had to downsize.

Experiment

Harbers arrived at 440,000 flights per year. Just enough not to harm Schiphol and the Netherlands economically and enough to reduce nuisance for local residents. But such a decision must first be assessed by the European Commission in Brussels. In the meantime, Schiphol can already shrink to 460,000 flights, Harbers thinks. Brussels does not have to think anything of it if that intermediate step is qualified as an experiment.

Tread with feet

Schiphol agreed to the experiment. In the coming year, it will then be examined whether the nuisance will be reduced if the aircraft noise is spread differently. The airlines, who are already strongly opposed to the reduction to 440,000 flights, claim that the State and Schiphol are flouting the rules by calling the intermediate step to 460,000 flights an experiment and skipping the Brussels assessment.

The airlines want the judge to blow the whistle on the State and Schiphol. Not only are they afraid of major financial consequences and job losses, they want Schiphol to be able to grow again. The companies have invested billions in new, quieter and cleaner aircraft, which they believe contribute better to a liveable environment than shrinkage.

The article continues below the tweet.

The court will take more than two weeks to consider the arguments of the airlines, the State, Schiphol and local residents. Residents’ group Right to Protection against Aircraft Nuisance (RBV) joined the camp of the State and Schiphol last week to argue for shrinkage. For them, however, the shrinkage does not go far enough. Later this year, they themselves will take the State to court to force an even greater contraction.