Green voluntarism in the air of the Dutch government and the international airport of Amsterdam-Schiphol experiences its first blow.
A court on Wednesday opposed a government plan to cut the number of flights this year at Schiphol, one of Europe’s biggest hubs, to limit CO2 emissions and noise pollution.
This plan foresees increasing the number of flights from 500,000 to 460,000 per year in 2023-2024.
Major airlines, including Dutch airlines KLM, Delta and EasyJet, launched legal action in March. The Haarlem court agreed with them, finding that the executive “did not follow the correct procedure” and violated European Union rules on the consultation of interested parties, including airlines.
“This means that, as a consequence of this decision, Schiphol cannot reduce the maximum number of flights to 460,000 for the coming season,” the court said in a statement.
KLM denounces a one-sided approach
However, he said The Hague had followed the rules in another part of its plan, which is to reduce the number of flights to 440,000 a year by 2025.
Greenpeace said it was “of course disappointed”. “Big polluter KLM is therefore a slap in the face for local residents, the weather and the government that saved the company from bankruptcy.” KLM received help from The Hague during the Covid-19 pandemic to cope with the drop in passenger numbers.
It remains to be seen if the latest measures to reduce CO2 emissions and noise pollution announced by the Schiphol operator a few days ago will not suffer the same fate.
The airport intends to ban flights between 00:00 and 06:00 and landings between midnight and 05:00 by 2025/2026. It also waives the possibility of an additional takeoff and landing runway and will ban private planes from its runways.
So many restrictions that once again ulcerate the air players, in particular KLM, the national company of Batavia, which is Schiphol’s first client.
“We are surprised that Schiphol is unilaterally putting forward proposals that will have far-reaching consequences for airlines, without involving industry players in this process. Only a collaborative industry-wide approach can enable the aviation industry to “achieve a balance between its environment.” and the climate”, can be read in a press release.
Source: BFM TV
