Schiphol’s southernmost runway closes for 9 weeks; Noise to affect more homeowners

Schiphol is starting major maintenance and renovations on its Kaagbaan today. The work will take until April 25, during which the runway will be closed. More planes will use the other runways during this time, resulting in more noise pollution for locals living near the Zwanenburgbaan, Aalsmeerbaan, and Buitenveldertbaan, Schiphol said.

“We realize that major maintenance on one of our must-used runways can cause additional disruption in the area,” said Sybren Hahn, executive director of Schiphol Infrastructure. “That is why we do our utmost to plan the work as well as possible and carry it out as quickly as possible. We work with all our might and as much as possible during the night.”

Schiphol is giving the Kaagbaan, its touch-down zone where aircraft make first contact, taxiways, and service roads 86,800 square meters of new asphalt. Other work will also happen at the same time, including replacing the over 2,000 LED luminaries in the airport lighting installation, maintaining the runway electricity station and the 1,500 meters of rainwater drainage pipes, and installing 160 kilometers of electricity cables for the further electrification of the airport.

“An impressive project in which we have to make many replacements and immediately tackle as many peripheral projects as possible,” Hahn said. About 100 people will be working on the runway every day.

Schiphol Airport does major maintenance work on one of its runways every year to keep them in good condition for safe use.