An alliance of airlines will go to the Dutch Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn a decision by a lower court to allow the government to curb flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in an attempt to cut noise pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the aviation sector.
The Dutch government has proposed slashing the number of flights that are allowed to operate in and out of Schipol despite fierce opposition from the airline industry, which has tabled alternative methods to cut noise and emissions without cutting flights.
The alliance of key industry players, which includes Dutch flag carrier KLM, Delta Air Lines, easyJet, United Airlines and JetBlue, initially convinced a lower court to block the government’s plans, but this decision was overturned earlier this month by the Court of Appeals.
Transportation Minister Mark Harbers has told Schiphol Airport to cut flight movements by at least 60,000 over the next few years, and under the terms of the Appeals Court ruling, flights can start being cut from October 2024.
If the government gets its way, flight movements at Schiphol will be reduced to just 440,000 per year.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has slammed the plans saying the policy will wreak havoc on local jobs without having any tangible effect on the environment.
“The current judgement by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal creates a lack of clarity and causes uncertainty for passengers and the aviation sector,” a spokesperson for KLM said on Tuesday.
“This is because it is unclear how the experimental scheme will be applied, how it should be enforced and ultimately – how the ruling will affect the number of aircraft movements at Schiphol,” the statement continued.
The airline alliance said it was appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court to “seek clarity” on the policy. Lawyers acting on behalf of the aviation industry will argue that the Dutch government broke national and European laws when it introduced its flight cuts program without proper consultation.
