The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has welcomed a judgement by the Dutch Supreme Court last week that rules cuts to flight capacity at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport were unlawful.
There have been nearly two years of legal wrangling in the Netherlands since a summer 2022 government decision to cap the number of flights at Schiphol, slashing them by 20% due to environmental concerns and in an effort to curb noise pollution.
The intervention by the Netherlands Supreme Court now upholds an original decision on the district legal circuit that characterized the cap as “experimental” and not in line with the worldwide framework on managing airport noise, the so-called “Balanced Approach”.
IATA has previously claimed the proposed measure also broke European Union law – an argument that was rejected when the case first went to the Court of Appeal, based on the fact that the capping move was a trial and therefore not subject to the EU rules being relied on, giving the government the go-ahead.
This time however, the Supreme Court came down on the side of airlines and IATA, something the association’s Director General Willie Walsh hailed as a victory.
“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,” Walsh said. “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.”
Though Walsh might be calling for the Supreme Court decision to be respected, it should be pointed out that while the appeal to the higher instance was underway, the Dutch government had already chosen to roll back on the attempt to cut flights, a development that Walsh termed “an outbreak of common sense” that would maintain Schiphol’s capacity in “good news for jobs, the economy, traveller choice and convenience, and better trade relations.”
