Dutch court orders measures to cut noise pollution at airport

In December Schiphol said it would have the capacity for 483,000 flights this year.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered the government to do more to cut noise pollution at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, potentially limiting traffic at one of Europe’s busiest hubs.

In a case brought by a group of people who live close to the airport, the court said the government had not struck a fair balance between Schiphol’s economic interests and the problems it causes for people on the ground.

The court said it could not explicitly order the government to limit flights at Schiphol, but that such a cut could be an ultimate result of its verdict.

It said the state had structurally ignored the interests of people disturbed by Schiphol for years and made the boundaries within which it measures noise pollution too strict.

The court ordered the government to create better guarantees that the interests of people on the ground would be weighed in decisions regarding the airport, and to give those disturbed by noise a better legal position to fight it. The government said the verdict was “crystal clear” in its directive to give more attention to the needs of people on the ground and to cut noise disturbance.

“This was already our aim, and we will further study the verdict,” the infrastructure ministry said in a statement.

A foundation acting on behalf of almost 200,000 people estimated to be disturbed by Schiphol noise had claimed flights at Schiphol should be capped at 400,000 a year to stay within legal boundaries for noise pollution.

The Dutch government last year tried to limit flights with the support of Schiphol to around 450,000, or 10% below 2019 levels, in an effort to limit noise. But it bowed to industry pressure and objections from the European Union, which said it should first look at other possibilities to cut noise. In December Schiphol said it would have the capacity for 483,000 flights this year.