A Dutch court has tossed plans by Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to limit flights to 460,000 this year and 440,000 next year, saying the plan violates EU regulations for how plans are made for environmental and noise issues.
The ruling came in a suit filed by KLM and a number of other airlines and industry associations. The court said that a careful process is required for a state to reduce aircraft movements, and ruled that had not been done.d
The court said that “The state must identify various measures that can reduce noise pollution and consult all stakeholders. A reduction in the number of aircraft movements is only allowed when it is clear that other noise mitigation measures do not work sufficiently well.”
The airlines told the court that other measures they proposed would reduce noise and CO2 emissions “while maintaining a network of destinations for the millions of passengers and tonnes of cargo they carry annually to and from Schiphol.” The airport is a major international transfer hub, and the airlines have argued that limiting flights would push business elsewhere and cost many jobs.
Separate from this case, KLM and others are in court again, filing suit against a plan announced last week by Schiphol to eliminate all night flights from the airport as a noise reduction measure. The airlines claim only a small number of people would benefit, while seriously disrupting flight schedules to the Americas and Asia.
UPDATE, APRIL 10
The Dutch government is appealing the court’s ruling, saying that it did not take into account the best interests of local residents. No date is set for further hearings yet.