SCHIPHOL BANS PRIVATE JETS UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE GOVERNMENT

On April 4th 2023, Greenpeace sent out the following tweet: “NICE. @Schiphol airport in the Netherlands will ban private jets because of the unfair levels of noise and pollution This follows excellent protests by @GreenpeaceNL and @NLRebellion One airport is not enough, now we need to #BanPrivateJets all over Europe”

As the tweet said, the reason for celebration was the decision by Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to stop private jets (from 2025) from using the airport, along with a night flight curfew and the scrapping of plans to build an additional runway.

In making the announcement, Royal Schiphol Group CEO Ruud Sondag said:

“I realise that our choices may have significant implications for the aviation industry, but they are necessary. This shows we mean business. It is the only way, based on concrete measures, to regain the trust of employees, passengers, neighbours, politics and society.” Schiphol’s main tenant KLM was less happy, saying in a statement that “We are astonished that Schiphol is unilaterally putting forward proposals that will have farreaching consequences for airlines, without involving the industry parties in this process,” Earlier in this document, we already mentioned the noise and here Schiphol’s private jet ban is being done for noise as well as emissions reasons. This is also why a night curfew will be put in place.

Why This Announcement By Schiphol Was Significant

By itself, the Schiphol announcement won’t do much to stop private jet use. The business aviation sector can, and to a large extent already does, make use of other small nearby airports (which also offer the benefit of less congestion).

The significance is that for the first time, a major global hub airport has taken steps to ban private jets, and that announcement has made headlines worldwide.

Schiphol has opened the door for others to follow. It was the first, but it almost certainly won’t be the last.