The Dutch Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Dutch government can’t cut flight movements at Schiphol Airport without following the European Union’s balanced approach procedure.
The Dutch government must follow a special procedure under European rules and cannot simply decide to reduce the number of flights at Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s busiest hubs, as per the Dutch Supreme Court.
It thereby scrapped a previous ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that the Duch State was allowed to implement two proposed measures to reduce noise pollution around the airport.
Earlier in January this year, Amsterdam Schiphol airport had announced a “limited reduction” in capacity in 2024 to “relieve pressure” during peak times after the controversial plans to significantly cut the number of flights allowed from the airport were scrapped.
Since 2015, the New Standards and Enforcement System (NNHS) has applied for the Schiphol airport. It states that the airport must use its runways in a way that is as favorable to locals as possible and can’t have more than 500,000 flight movements per year. Violations of the legal noise standards are tolerated as long as the NNHS standards are not exceeded.
In 2022, the Cabinet decided to tighten the noise standards and better protect those living around Schiphol from noise pollution.
It had announced two measures to achieve this: reducing the annual flight movements to 460,000 and no longer tolerating violations of the noise standards. The government wanted to implement these measures while working on new legal regulations.
Even though the previous government had already suspended the plan to limit Schiphol’s flight movements to 460,000 per year, the decision is important for concerned airlines as it rules out any uncertainty for travellers and the sector.
It also overturned an earlier judgment by an Amsterdam court that said the Dutch State was allowed to implement two proposed measures to reduce noise pollution at Schiphol.
“The decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that the Dutch State was allowed to implement two proposed measures to reduce noise pollution at Schiphol will not be upheld. Based on European rules, a balanced approach procedure must be followed (to implement) the measures”, the Supreme Court said in its statement.
“KLM agrees with the clearly substantiated ruling of the Supreme Court”, KLM, Air France’s [AIRF.PA] Dutch arm, said in a statement on Friday.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also responded to the judgement from the Supreme Court in the Netherlands, which has upheld the original decision from the Amsterdam District Court that the ‘experimental regulation’ to reduce Schiphol’s capacity was not in compliance with the Balanced Approach to noise management.
Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, said :
“We welcome this decision from the Supreme Court, affirming the original decision of the Amsterdam District Court that the unilateral cuts to flight numbers at Schiphol were unlawful, and overturning the Court of Appeal. There is an internationally-agreed means of managing airport noise – the Balanced Approach – which protects the national and regional benefits of air connectivity while helping to mitigate noise impacts for local residents."
"We expect the new Dutch Government will respect today’s decision and proceed to apply the Balanced Approach, which is also enshrined in EU law and international treaties, with the utmost care with regards to Schiphol. Furthermore, we hope any other government thinking of disregarding the Balanced Approach will take note of this decision. It is a proven and successful process and should not be ignored.”
Picture Credit : Miq
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