Schiphol withheld report on the shrinkage of airport under pressure from KLM

Last year, KLM put pressure on Schiphol not to publish a report in which the shrinkage of the airport and various environmental measures were calculated. Insiders confirm this to the newspaper De Volkskrant. According to the report, a higher flight tax on long-haul flights and transfer passengers would be a smart alternative for Schiphol, a measure that could significantly undermine KLM's revenue model.

According to the newspaper, KLM sent an angry email threatening that Schiphol's strategy director, Richard Emmerink, would be held personally liable for the damage if the report, a cost-benefit analysis conducted by research firms SEO and CE Delft, was made public. It is well known that KLM's revenue model relies heavily on passengers transferring to long-haul flights at Schiphol.

Schiphol and KLM, however, did not want to confirm the tone of the discussion and claimed it was a joint decision not to publish the report in the end. However, they admit that opinions on the report were divided. "Of course, there are sometimes heated discussions with each other," said a KLM spokeswoman. "We will not turn it into a 'he said, she said'. We aim to work together productively to tackle the challenges for aviation."

According to KLM, the report still raises many questions. "For example, the settlement climate and the leakage effect of Dutch people crossing the border to fly from there are not taken into account. A more comprehensive follow-up study is therefore needed that also takes such aspects into account."

However, Schiphol was keen to publish the report. A spokesperson explained that the report also highlights aspects that were included in Schiphol's so-called eight-point plan from April last year. In it, Schiphol advocates a ban on night flights and private jets.

The report also concluded that, in the long term, flight taxes would have to be increased, which would affect Dutch passengers as well as transfer passengers. The level of taxes is based on the length of the route. Accordingly, long-distance flights in particular would become more expensive. For instance, a flight to New York would have a flight tax of 75 euros in 2030 and 175 euros in 2050. A trip to Australia would cost 210 euros in taxes in 2030, rising to 475 euros in 2050, De Volkskrant reported.

Other parts of the proposal include reducing the number of night flights and subsidizing sustainable kerosene.