Amsterdam’s major airport Schiphol has announced a change of course. By the end of 2025 at the latest, there should be no more night flights, and private jets should also be banned. The airport announced that this should lead to “quieter, cleaner and better aviation”. Aircraft that make a lot of noise, such as the Boeing 747, are also to be gradually banned.
Environmental groups and local residents reacted positively to the announcement. Airlines and tour operators, on the other hand, were critical. The airline KLM, whose base is Schiphol, reacted with surprise. KLM would have liked a joint approach by the aviation industry to reduce CO2 emissions and noise reduction, it said.
No flights between midnight and 6am
The environmental organization Greenpeace, on the other hand, welcomed the plan. Aviation transcends the boundaries of residents, nature and climate, said Greenpeace’s Maarten de Zeeuw. The announced ban on private jets is also a positive step. “This type of traffic is shameless in times of the climate crisis and really doesn’t work anymore.”
Schiphol wants no more flights to take off between midnight and 6 a.m. and no more machines to land until 5 a.m. According to the airport, there should be around 10,000 night flights per year.
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. On the other hand, KLM and four other airlines had sued.
