Ruling parties want new investigation into Schiphol safety before further growth

Before Schiphol can be given permission to further expand its number of flight movements, there must first be a new investigation into safety at the airport, according to coalition parties D66 and ChristenUnie. They want to be absolutely certain that growth will not affect the safety of passengers and employees at Schiphol, NOS reports.

D66 parliamentarian Jan Paternotte and ChristenUnie MP Eppo Bruins want the Dutch Safety Bard to conduct a new investigation into safety at the airport and publish a report. Until then, Schiphol must remain limited to its current 500 thousand flight movements per year.

"It is already very busy in the air around Schiphol," Bruins said to the broadcaster. "If you are going to squeeze more traffic into that airspace, you will hit the limits of what is possible." Paternotte added that the Dutch Safety Board already published a critical report about safety at Schiphol a few years ago. He gets the impression that not much was done with it. "There are collisions on the ground and all sorts of other incidents; 140 times per year. Before there is any growth, there must first be new advice from the Dutch Safety Board."

The Dutch Safety Board must make clear exactly what needs to change to improve the safety of Schiphol. Only once these improvements have been implemented, can the airport expand its flights to 540 thousand per year, as is the plan, the parliamentarians said.

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, will debate aviation safety on Wednesday.