Airport noise pollution is in the headlines again, after an announcement by the Dutch government that it would be cutting flight capacity at Amsterdam Schiphol, one of the world’s busiest airports, in order to improve quality of life for city residents.
Under the new rules, flight capacity at Schiphol will be capped at 478,000 flights per year from 2025, down from the current limit of 500,000 flights per year, which represents a 4.4% cut. The measure, taken alongside the deployment of more modern, quieter planes, is anticipated to reduce airport noise pollution in the city by 15%.
Is €7 billion investment in quieter aircraft too late?
But Dutch airline KLM has lobbied against the move, arguing that it will be investing €7 billion in quieter aircraft in future years and that reducing the number of flights would mean international competitor airlines losing slots in The Netherlands, which could result in tit-for-tat measures to punish KLM in turn. “Reduction of flight movements is not an end in itself and is expected to be legally unsustainable. We await the advice of the European Commission,” the airline said.
However, the proposed 4.4% reduction in flights is already a significant compromise on behalf of residents and authorities, who had previously aimed to cut capacity at the hub by as much as 20%, as well as shutting down night flights completely and closing one of the airport’s runways with a flight path directly over the port city to bring down noise disturbances and pollution.
Is there a balance to be struck between residents and the airport?
Amsterdam authorities own 20% of the airport, but they and the national government are caught between two lobbies. In spring 2024, a national court told the government to address noise pollution and noted that public concern had been ignored by policymakers for too long.
But official attempts to respond to residents’ concerns by bringing the number of flights down have been stymied by the European Union and IATA claims that such “unilateral action” goes against the internationally agreed “Balanced Approach” to airport operations, which is intended to protect the national and regional benefits of air connectivity while helping to mitigate noise impacts for local residents.
When airlines took the matter to a higher instance, the EU made legal objections to the Dutch plan to cut flights and told the government to look at alternative ways of resolving the issue. The European Commission is now set to look at the latest proposal and weigh in on whether lawmakers have taken reasonable steps to protect flight capacity at Schiphol.
