Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has confirmed there will be fewer commercial flights and less capacity for private jets from 2024 following the release today of its 2024 summer season capacity declaration.
The declaration states the total number of flights permitted at the Amsterdam hub will be reduced from 31 March 2024 when the Dutch government's highly-criticised experimental scheme to reduce noise pollution comes into effect.
A maximum of 280,645 flights will be permitted in the 2024 summer season (31 March to 26 October 2024), or around 12,400 fewer flights than in the summer of 2023, while the total number of flights allowed for the full operating year (summer and winter) will be capped at 460,000.
There will also be fewer slots available for private jets, which is set to decrease from 17,000 in 2023 to 12,000 in 2024. This is in line with the airport’s previously stated plans to eventually ban all private jets by 2025.
The eight-point plan, released in April, also includes a night curfew, with Schiphol proposing there should be no departures between midnight and 6am, as well as no arrivals landing at the airport between midnight and 5am.
The airport has also banned 87 aircraft types due to noise restrictions. These types of aircraft, including Boeing 707 and 737-200, were already no longer operating from Schiphol, but inclusion in the 2024 summer capacity document now makes the ban definitive.
In addition to capacity cuts and bans, the airport has also introduced a new set of cumulative airport charges to “encourage sustainable aviation”. A 9 per cent levy was introduced in 2022, which increased to 12 per cent in 2023 and will gradually increase to 37 per cent by 2025.
The airport said “airlines need to pay five times more when flying with the noisiest and most polluting planes compared with when they make use of the quietest and cleanest aircraft”.