Schiphol flight cut delayed for third time as EU studies plans

Plans to reduce the number of take-offs and landings at Schiphol airport are likely to be delayed again, infrastructure minister Mark Harbers has told MPs. 

The cabinet had planned to reduce the number of flight movements to 452,500 from November 1 this year, but this deadline is now “unlikely”, Harbers said. The delay is down to the European Commission which must first assess the plans. 

“It is important to follow the proscribed processes and procedures and take the time to deal with everything properly,” Harbers said. 

The shrink should have taken place this spring but was delayed after protests from both the EU and US. The minister did not give a new date. 

Campaigners for a reduction are disappointed in the news, with Sijas Akkerman from lobby group Natuur en Milieufederatie Noord-Holland saying the government had now “disappointed locals for the third time”. 

“The government has again bowed down to the aviation lobby and would appear not to be capable of protecting the health of local residents,” he said. 

Harbers first said in 2022 that flight movements at Schiphol should be reduced after it emerged the airport authorities had been ignoring official limits for years and the cabinet had turned a blind eye to the excess noise. Schiphol is 100% owned by the state and local authorities.

Several court cases followed and the cabinet agreed to set a lower limit than the 500,000 flight movements currently allowed. 

The airlines say they are confident they can reduce noise levels and CO2 emissions ‘while maintaining a network of destinations for the millions of passengers and tonnes of cargo they carry annually to and from Schiphol’.