Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam announced a “limited reduction” in capacity in 2024 to “relieve pressure” during peak periods after controversial plans to significantly cut the number of flights allowed from the airport were dropped.
The airport said there is now capacity for 483,000 flights at Schiphol in 2024, with plans to provide space for 293,000 flights during the summer season (March 31 to Oct. 26), on the condition that “peak times are relieved.”
In a statement, the airport said a limited reduction is needed at peak times “to allow for safe and stable operations” and that airlines “have agreed to help with this.”
The move comes after the Dutch government’s plans to reduce annual flights at the Amsterdam facility were suspended last November following pressure from the US and the European Union.
The contested plans to reduce noise pollution would have forced Schiphol to reduce flights from 500,000 annually to 460,000 beginning in April 2024. A further reduction to 440,000 annual flights had been planned for 2025.
The 293,000 flights that are now planned for the 2024 summer season will allow for 13,000 more flights than the previously announced 280,000 permitted under the capacity-reduction proposal.
