Dutch government cancels controversial fourth Schiphol approach plans
The Dutch Cabinet has scrapped controversial plans to allow a fourth approach route for aircraft flying in to Schiphol Airport. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management laid out draft plans on Friday for reviewing the organization of the country’s airspace, which the previous Cabinet wanted to begin implementing this year. Delays quickly arose as opponents objected to lack of improvements to noise disturbances, emissions levels, and the capacity of air traffic controllers to review plans.
Surveys of residents in dozens of municipalities showed intense opposition to the fourth approach into the Amsterdam-area airport, especially among residents of the central province of Utrecht and the eastern province of Gelderland, where airplanes would be in the skies with more frequency. The existing three approach paths include from the North Sea and IJmuiden, from Groningen and the IJsselmeer, and from Zeeland at the Belgian border then over the western portion of Zuid-Holland.
Infrastructure Minister Barry Madlener said the new airspace proposal “lays the foundation for reducing the noise from civil aviation on the ground in the future. That is good news for local residents.” The PVV politician recently pledged to parliamentarians that residents would be given more say in the planning, which was a demand from coalition partner NSC.
Madlener wanted the fourth route to increase efficiency. The ministry argued this was also necessary to give the Ministry of Defence more flexibility over the skies of Friesland in the northern region to allow pilots to train and run drills using the new F-35 fighter jet fleet. Typically, when the F-35s are in the skies they are above the North Sea. However, the rest of the time, the military needs access to airspace above land, but this space is too limited above the south and east of the Netherlands, the Infrastructure Ministry argued.
“As a province, we are working hard to improve the living environment on the ground. We assume that the government will take this responsibility when it comes to developments in the air,” wrote Utrecht provincial leader Huib van Essen earlier this year. He told Madlener the fourth approach to Schiphol was “unacceptable,” saying better options were needed “whereby the quality of life and the state of nature are less at stake.”
“Because two training areas will disappear, civil aviation no longer has to fly around them, which leads to shorter routes,” the ministry claimed on Friday. The proposed fourth approach route seemed less necessary, but it also was not compatible with existing international flight paths, the Infrastructure Ministry said.
This will then give the military more space to use the F-35 in training missions above the north of the country. “This strengthens the combat power and deterrence of the armed forces and ensures that the armed forces are ready for deployment,” the ministry stated.
“The new airspace layout also makes it possible to cooperate with our neighboring countries across borders in major NATO exercises. The urgency of this has been further increased by the changed geopolitical circumstances and the deteriorating security situation.”
The Cabinet will still press ahead with assembling an external committee to assess the proposal, a demand from the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. More input about the plans will be collected, and Parliament will again have an opportunity to review the proposal and advice next year.
