AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – KLM and other airlines using Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport said on Friday they intended to challenge the Dutch government’s plan to cap the number of annual flights allowed at the site, saying it would would harm both the Dutch economy and travellers.
A spokesperson for KLM, the Dutch branch of the Air France-KLM group, which operates 60% of flights at Schiphol, said the companies involved had sent a summons to the government to appear before the Haarlem District Court. .
In June 2022, as Schiphol faced a labor shortage, the Dutch government said it would lower the airport’s annual flight cap to 440,000 from the current 500,000 to tackle pollution. sound and help achieve climate goals.
The government subsequently indicated recently that it may adopt an annual cap of 460,000 flights from November as an interim step.
Airlines that joined the complaint, including Delta, EasyJet, TUI and Corendon, called the decision “unilateral and sudden”.
“The airlines maintain that in addition to breaching national, European and international law, the decision is unnecessary, harmful and not sufficiently reasoned, given that the airline sector is already achieving significant results in reducing CO2 emissions and reduced noise levels,” they said.
A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure said it was studying the follow-up to the complaint.
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) said in a statement that it supports the action by the airlines and that it also plans a separate appeal, on the grounds that the measure in its view violates both Community law and the Chicago convention on noise-related operating restrictions.
(Report Charlotte Van Campenhout, French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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