The Dutch government has won an appeal to shrink flights at Amsterdam’s airport for the coming season, in a potential blow to carriers seeking to maintain the hub’s appeal as a global transfer destination.
The Dutch government can reduce the number of flights at the airport between the end of the year and October 2024, an appeals court ruled on Friday, revoking an earlier decision by a local court.
The ruling comes three months after a court concluded that the government’s attempts to minimize noise by cutting the number of flights that can go in and out of Schiphol airport did not follow the correct procedures.
The state has outlined plans to eventually cut Schiphol Airport’s annual flight capacity to 440,000 flights by 2024, equal to a 12% reduction. Airlines and lobby groups maintain the move violates international regulations and inconveniences travelers. As a first step, the government proposed a temporary regulation to cap the number of flights from November this year at 460,000 — down from the current limit of 500,000.
The verdict is a loss for airlines and their advocates, including the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines Inc, EasyJet plc and the International Air Transport Association lobbying group.
Almost 53 million passengers flew through Schiphol last year. It has the most direct flight connections of any airport in Europe, according to data from Airports Council International Europe, beating out Istanbul and London Heathrow.
