KLM confident in winning appeal to block Schiphol flight cuts

KLM and other airlines will head back to court later in June to face off again with the government of the Netherlands over its proposed flight cuts at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. A Dutch court is scheduled to hear an appeal by the government on June 21. If the government wins, it plans to reduce total aircraft movements at Schiphol to 460,000 annually from 500,000 beginning in March 2024, and to 440,000 annually at a later date to reduce noise. At stake is the future of KLM’s hub at Schiphol, one of the “golden geese” powering the Dutch economy. “We’re confident in the appeal,” KLM CEO Marjan Rintel said on the sidelines of the IATA Annual General Meeting in Istanbul Sunday. Any forced flight reductions at Schiphol should only be a “last resort” to reduce noise after aircraft modernization and other operational improvements, she added. But the case is about more than just noise. It is also represents a blunt force attempt by the Dutch government to force reductions in aviation carbon emissions to meet its goals. The government has signed on to the European Union’s goal of reducing overall emissions 55% by 2030, and to net zero by the middle of the century. KLM, for its part, has committed to a 30% reduction in emissions per revenue kilometers flown by the end of the decade, and net zero by 2050. KLM, IATA, and other airlines won their initial challenge to the Dutch government’s proposal in April. In its ruling, the court found that the government did not follow the “correct procedure” under European law. That procedure involves consulting with the industry over other measures to achieve noise reductions, and then only implementing flight reductions “if it is clear that other measures to limit noise nuisance are insufficiently effective.” The ruling echoed what Rintel has described as a “balanced approach” to reducing noise, and more broadly aviation emissions.<br/>