Campaign groups are taking the Dutch state to court on Tuesday for the latest hearing in a string of legal battles surrounding the airport’s noise and pollution rights.

Since 2019 companies that emit large amounts of nitrogen should have an operating permit that details how much nitrogen they are allowed to discharge. Schiphol had been operating without a permit for years, and the government had turned a blind eye to the situation.

In 2023 Schiphol bought nine farms in order to use their nitrogen pollution rights as its own and later that year was controversially given its own permit, which allowed it to carry out 500,000 take-offs and landings a year.

But campaign groups say Schiphol was wrongly awarded the permit and are fighting it in court. They argue Schiphol has failed to prove its emissions remain within the agreed limits and that the calculations that have been done are insufficient.

Campaigners are calling on the courts to declare the permit invalid because it does not meet the rules, a move which they hope will send a signal to the aviation sector in general.

If Schiphol loses the case and the permit is declared invalid the airport will have to cut flight numbers sharply pending a new application.

The case, brought by several green groups and Amsterdam city council, is being heard in court in The Hague.

Noise problems are also the subject of a legal battle involving airlines and the airport.