Holiday prices will rise if Schiphol cancels overnight flights; Area residents pleased

Schiphol’s decision to ban overnight flights will make flying more expensive and accessible to fewer people. “The holiday traveler is the victim of that,” Transavia said. TUI accused the Amsterdam Airport of leaving holidaymakers “out in the cold.” However, Corendon believes the price increase may be about 15 to 20 euros more expensive per person during the peak holiday season. People living around Schiphol are delighted by the decision.

Airline Transavia said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by Schiphol’s announcement. Fewer flights in the early morning would put severe pressure on budget airlines’ revenue model. Transavia mainly serves holiday destinations in Spain or Portugal, for example, and flies back and forth a few times in one day. That is only possible by starting very early. Schiphol’s plans to ban departures between midnight and 6:00 a.m. by the end of 2025 would make that impossible.

According to Transavia CEO Marcel de Nooijer, the plans make it impossible for “1.5 million hard-working Dutch people to go on their well-deserved vacation.” And there is hardly any room to divert to, for example, Eindhoven Airport or Rotterdam The Hague Airport.

Schiphol’s plans are nothing more than a proposal, as far as De Nooijer is concerned. “These kinds of things should be dealt with in a longer trajectory of participation,” he said, echoing the sentiment of parent company KLM.

Tour operator TUI also said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by Schipol’s announcement. “We are astonished that Schiphol comes with this from their role. Precisely because Schiphol has a national interest as an airport, you do something like this in consultation with your users and stakeholders and not in this way.”

TUI also believes this move will primarily affect holidaymakers as holiday flights often depart in the early morning and arrive in the late evening. “The consequence of a night closure is that you can no longer fly multiple times a day with the same aircraft.” That will make holidays more expensive, TUI said.

The only way to come to an adjustment is by “properly consulting the parties involved,” TUI said. “We assume that Schiphol will follow the correct procedures in the elaboration.”

Unlike the airlines, residents living around the Amsterdam Airport are delighted that fewer planes will fly over their homes at night. Local residents united in the RBV foundation, which fights for their right to be protected against aircraft nuisance, expect to get more sleep as a result.

RBV also sees the banning of “completely unnecessary business and private jets” as progress because air traffic then causes less noise and air pollution. The foundation fears that the airlines will fly around Schiphol more often during the day and in the evening, so the noise pollution will continue. If it is up to the locals, Schiphol will shrink.

Tour operator Corendon also sees promise in Schiphol's overnight plans. "In this way you can reduce a lot of nuisance with a relatively small sacrifice," said CEO Steven van der Heijden. "Aviation will also have to do something to maintain support."

Van der Heijden said he realizes that the "social discussion about flying has shifted considerably in recent years." Aviation should take this into account and Schiphol's ideas are "moving in the right direction" the CEO said. "We are positive about it." Van der Heijden added that the company's Dutch branch may not be affected much aside from vacation flights.

For Corendon, depending on how Schiphol wants to shape it exactly, it may mean that the travel group has to rent an extra plane in the high season in order to be able to carry out all flights. "That would mean that a holiday will be 15 to 20 euros more expensive per person," Van der Heijden calculated.

He said that Schiphol's plans should be implemented in their entirety, including the proposed ban on noisy aircraft, particularly cargo planes. Overnight flights and cargo flights are mainly responsible for nuisance, he stated. He also suggested diverting the private flights that may be banned to Lelystad Airport. "There is already a beautiful terminal there where they can go immediately."

The Cabinet wants to reduce Schiphol’s flight movements from 500,000 to 460,000 per year. KLM and the aviation industry association IATA filed summary proceedings against the state to prevent this shrinkage. The preliminary relief judge has admitted RBV as an interested party. The court in Haarlem will rule on Wednesday.