Haarlem — A Dutch court has ruled out a flight cap planned for Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, overturning a controversial move planned by the government aimed at reducing the polluting impact of flights.
An administrative court in Haarlem on Wednesday ruled in favour of airlines, declaring the government order invalid.
The Dutch 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 to combat noise and pollution.
Initially, a limit of 460,000 flights would have been allowed for the first year from November at Schiphol, a key hub for international air traffic.
In response, KLM and four other airlines filed a lawsuit against the planned flight reductions, arguing that the government had not followed procedural rules. They argued that lawmakers had not examined any alternatives and said they could reduce noise and CO2 emissions even with the same number of flights.
Reducing the number of flights at the airport could also violate European rules, they argued.
The government's move is separate from a recent announcement by the airport that it plans to phase out night flights by the end of 2025 at the latest, as well as ban private jets. These plans are also opposed by the airlines.
©2023 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
