US airline JetBlue to leave Schiphol in summer 2024 due to flight reductions

American airline JetBlue will be forced to cease operations at Schiphol Airport for the 2024 summer season. On Thursday, the reallocation of takeoff and landing slots was revealed, and with the upcoming reduction of flights at Schiphol, JetBlue will not receive slots for that period.

The ACNL, which is responsible for distributing airport slots, said that due to the Dutch government's decision to cut the number of flights from 500,000 to 460,000 in April and further to 440,000 the following year, airlines without 'historical' slots will be barred be from Schiphol for the summer 2024 season.

The flight movement cutback resulted in 3.1 percent fewer slots being distributed, equating to 9,100 fewer takeoff and landing rights. This decrease will be proportionately allocated among the 84 airlines with historical rights to operate at Schiphol. 24 airlines without these rights will have to vacate the airport next summer.

JetBlue, which started flights from Schiphol to the U.S. in August, previously pressed the U.S. government to consider retaliatory action against Dutch carriers, especially KLM, in the event of its departure from Schiphol.

“We believe the US and Dutch governments have an obligation under our historic Open Skies Agreement to ensure that JetBlue is granted continued access at Amsterdam’s only viable airport,” JetBlue said in a reaction reported by Bloomberg. The airline also noted that its flights from New York and Boston to Amsterdam have "already demonstrated a unique value to customers."

KLM will have to reduce its operations by 17 flights daily. KLM expressed "disappointment" about this and reiterated its opposition to the reduction along with industry peers at the Supreme Court and at the European level.