Airlines sue Netherlands over flight restrictions
2023.03.03 12:01
Airlines sue Netherlands over flight restrictions
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Friday, KLM and other airlines announced that they are filing a lawsuit against the Dutch government over plans to limit the annual number of flights allowed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. They claim that doing so would be detrimental to the airlines, the Dutch economy, and travelers.
The dispute arises as Schiphol continues to face staffing issues and pits the financial interests of the airline against residents’ and environmentalists’ concerns about air pollution and noise at Europe’s third-busiest airport.
The companies involved have sent a summons to the government to appear in a summary suit at Haarlem District Court, according to a spokesperson for KLM, the Dutch arm of the Air France-KLM Group that handles 60% of flights at Schiphol. Delta Airlines (NYSE:), among others, joined the KLM lawsuit. simpleJet (LOND:), TUI and Corendon Airlines in Turkey.
They said in a joint statement, “The government’s justification hinges on operational restrictions without consideration of alternative workable solutions, while the airlines have already made multi-billion euro investments to meet near- and long-term goals in line with their own decarbonization trajectories and government policies.”
In June 2022, as Schiphol battled with functional issues including hours-significant delays for security checks and heaps of uncollected stuff, the Dutch government said it would bring down the cap on yearly trips at the air terminal to 440,000 from an ongoing temporary constraint of 500,000. However, the decision to limit flights was based on concerns about noise and air pollution, not traveler distress.
In a response released on Friday, the Ministry of Infrastructure stated, “We are aware that, among other things, KLM has started summary proceedings against the Dutch government.”
Given the lawsuit, it stated that it could not directly address the companies’ arguments. However, it stated that its current policy is aimed at defending residents’ legal rights and that it remains committed to meeting the 440,000 target by November 2024.
In the KLM-led case, Schiphol Airport Group received a summons and stated that it “regretted” the suit.
In a response, Schiphol, which cites a slightly higher target, stated, “We believe a reduction to 460,000 flights (per year) is a necessary intermediate step.” Due to unresolved labor shortages, the airport announced a 66,000-passenger-per-day cap last month for the 2023 May vacation period.
Separately, on Friday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) stated that it backed the airlines’ lawsuit and planned a parallel challenge on the grounds that the move is in violation of both EU law and the Chicago Convention on operating restrictions related to noise.
IATA Director General Willie Walsh stated in a statement, “The dangerous precedent that this illegal approach creates left no choice but to challenge (the government) in court.”
