Schiphol only wants to temporarily shrink from 500,000 to 460,000 flights per year. The airport announced this tonight in a so-called opinion submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Moreover, Schiphol wants the government to offer the airport the prospect of growth again in a few years’ time.
Last year, Minister Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management announced that Schiphol must shrink to 440,000 flights per year. That new maximum number should come into effect at the end of this year, but turned out not to be feasible. Because the European Commission has yet to consider it, this reduction in the number of flights would not be possible until the end of 2024. Until then, Schiphol says it can shrink to 460,000 flight movements.
Schiphol is now sticking to that number and is asking the government to also offer perspectives for the airlines and local residents. The airport wants to get rid of the maximum number of flights and instead work with environmental limits. Schiphol believes that quieter, cleaner aircraft will enable growth without causing additional inconvenience to local residents.
Against shrinkage
Minister Harbers shares this opinion with Schiphol. October last year Harbers told NH News that he is also in favor of such an environmental limit. KLM, the largest airline at Schiphol, also wants that environmental limit and is strongly against the shrinkage. KLM fears the loss of thousands of jobs if the shrink decision is not reversed.
The ministry also wants to experiment with a different distribution of aircraft nuisance over the area in the near future. If that test succeeds, the ministry thinks it will be able to demonstrate that 460,000 flights per year are possible (instead of the previously announced 440,000). Local residents have indicated that the experiment is a ‘nightmare‘ to find.