Iata has joined forces with airlines around the world to mount a legal challenge to the Dutch government’s sudden decision to reduce Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s flights.
Schiphol Airport is already restricted to 500 000 flights annually. The government’s decree would reduce that number to 460 000 flights from November 2023.
Iata is taking up cudgels on several points – the government’s failure to hold meaningful consultation, the measures being a first resort rather than a last one, and the decision’s failure to consider the effect on the Netherlands economy.
“The Netherlands is handicapping its economy by destroying connectivity. And it is doing it in contravention of EU law and its international obligations. The job-destroying hostile approach to aviation that the Dutch government has chosen is a totally disproportionate response to managing noise,” says Iata DG, Willie Walsh.
“The government has even refused to engage in meaningful consultations and made flight reductions the goal, rather than working with industry to meet noise and emissions-reduction goals while restoring employment and revitalising the post-pandemic economy. The dangerous precedent that this illegal approach creates left no choice but to challenge them in court.”
Iata and the global airline community believe that this political decision by the Dutch government contravenes EU Regulation 598/2014 on noise-related operating restrictions at EU airports. It also disregards the Chicago Convention, a binding international agreement to which the Netherlands is a signatory.
Annex 16 of the Convention contains provisions for The Balanced Approach to Aircraft Noise Management which states are obligated to follow when taking measures to managing the noise impacts of aviation.
Key requirements of EU Regulation 598/2014 and the Balanced Approach are:
- Consultation with affected parties
- The use of flight reductions only as a last resort
- Balancing the needs and concerns of local residents, the environment and the local economy for aviation’s economic and social benefits.
The association said the decision to cut capacity at Schiphol failed to meet these requirements because:
- No meaningful consultation was undertaken with industry
- Flight reductions are being imposed as a first resort, rather than as a last resort
- The need to restore the economic damage to the aviation industry of the Netherlands is not being addressed. Pre-pandemic, aviation supported some 330 000 jobs and US$30bn (R546,36bn) of economic activity in the Netherlands.
“The airline industry continually deploys quieter aircraft, reducing noise levels by 50% in the last decade.
The investment in new fleet also plays a significant role in meeting the aviation industry’s commitment to reduce its CO2 emissions to nett zero carbon emissions by 2050. The industry’s robust plan for reducing CO2 includes the uptake of sustainable aviation fuels, of which airlines operating in and to the Netherlands have been some of the leading users.”
