Dutch gov't wants to cut Schiphol noise by 20% by 2028

The Cabinet wants to reduce the noise pollution caused by Schiphol by 20 percent in 2028, aviation minister Barry Madlener wrote in a letter to parliament. The target for this year is for severe noise pollution from airplanes to drop by 15 percent compared to 2024.

A decision about the remaining 5 percent of the target has not yet been made. The minister is also including more new aircraft after November 2025 in the plans, which was not previously the case.

The inclusion of new airplanes had caused a disagreement between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Schiphol and KLM. The companies felt that all the new quieter airplanes should count in regard to the noise pollution target, while the ministry was only including the aircraft that will be replaced due to the noise issues.

Peter de Groot, a VVD member and a member of parliament, submitted a motion to have the minister go along with the aviation companies' wishes. The motion was passed and is now being carried out by Madlener.

The policy changes are laid down in the Luchthavenverkeerbesluit (LVB) that was officially published on Wednesday. If the target of 2028 is reached, then Madlener will give the aviation sector more space to increase the number of flights in the country.

This comment by Madlener was criticized by environmental organizations. "The minister is abandoning local residents near Schiphol," Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Greenpeace, and the de Natuur en Milieufederatie Noord-Holland said. "Although he is now setting a maximum number of aircraft movements of 478,000, he is also allowing aircraft noise to increase again after 2028 by allowing additional flights at Schiphol from then on."

Last March, the district court ruled that the government is not sufficiently taking the interests of the local residents near Schiphol, who are struggling with the noise caused by the planes, into account. The Cabinet meets this requirement with the publication of the LVB, the minister said.

Madlener is still sticking to a limit of 478,000 flights a year, with 27,000 of those being flights at night.