Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport saw passenger numbers rise 4.3% to over 46 million and cargo transport up 5.5% to 1,530,000 tonnes last year, CEO Gerlach Cerfontaine said on Thursday evening. ‘Compared with our main competitors – London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt – we performed extremely well,’ Cerfontaine said.

However, while 2007 would break new records, constraints on growth would start to bite, Cerfontaine said. ‘2007 may take us to the limits of the existing noise permits and we will be unable to grow any further,’ he said.
Cerfontaine also attacked Amsterdam city council, which has gone to court in an effort to block Schiphol’s partial privatisation. The city owns 22% of the airport. Amsterdam’s actions were ‘scandalous’, Cerfontaine said, according to BNR Nieuwsradio.