Amsterdam, April 5, (dpa/GNA) – In an about-face, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport will go ahead with a controversial flight cap, the operator announced on Tuesday.
Night flights will be phased out by the end of 2025 at the latest, and private jets are also to be banned, leading to “quieter, cleaner and better aviation,” Schiphol said.
Aircraft that make a lot of noise, such as the Boeing 747 jumbo jet, are also to be gradually banned.
Environmental groups and local residents welcomed the announcement. Airlines and tour operators, on the other hand, were critical.
Environmental protection organization Greenpeace welcomed the plan. Aviation transcends the boundaries of residents, nature and climate, said Greenpeace’s Maarten de Zeeuw.
He called the plan to ban private jets a positive step. “This type of traffic is shameless in times of the climate crisis and really doesn’t work anymore.”
Dutch flagship carrier KLM, which is based in Schiphol, reacted with surprise. “We would like to come together as a sector with further measures and reduce CO2 emissions and noise pollution,” it said in a statement.
Schiphol wants to ban flights from taking off between midnight and 6 am; no planes are to land until 5 am.
The government had decided that the airport must reduce the number of flights from a maximum of 500,000 to 440,000 a year by next year due to noise and pollution.
From November, an upper limit of 460,000 flights will initially apply.
KLM and four other airlines had filed a lawsuit against the planned flight reductions at Schiphol.
They argued that the government has not examined any alternatives and were convinced they could reduce noise and CO2 emissions even with the same number of flights.
GNA