The Dutch state may soon face a new court case about Schiphol airport, as a group of local residents prepare to make a formal complaint of mishandeling or failing to take due care, of their health.

The state and KLM and Transavia, which are the “two biggest night noise makers”, are responsible for an attack on their health because for “for years people have been robbed of their sleep due to excessive noise nuisance”, the complainants say.

Lawyer Bénédicte Ficq, who is representing the locals, told the AD on Monday it will not be difficult to prove that the noise at night should be considered mistreatment. Mistreatment, she said, can be defined as “causing physical and psychological damage” and this can be the result of serious and systematic sleep disruption.

“Being woken multiple times a night, never knowing when, is destructive to your health, your relationships, your children and your concentration at work,” she told the paper. “It is a human right to be able to sleep at night and to recuperate.”

The AD said that it was not aware of any cases in the Netherlands in which companies were convicted of mistreatment by excessive noise. The crime carries a maximum jail term of three years.

Last week, infrastructure minister Barry Madlener said that the number of take-offs and landings would be reduced slightly at Schiphol in the coming years to help reduce noise nuisance.

From next year, the airport will be allowed to facilitate 478,000 take-offs and landings, down 4.4% on the current total of 500,000. This, combined with the introduction of quieter aircraft, will cut noise for locals by 15%, five percentage points below the 20% target, the minister said.

Amsterdam’s finance chief Hester van Buren told Dutch News the decision is “disappointing” and that “once again the noise nuisance and the negative effect on local residents is not being taken seriously.” Amsterdam owns 20% of Schiphol’s shares.

Other court cases

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.