Dutch people flew and drove 100 billion kilometers in 2024

People in the Netherlands fly around the same number of kilometers as they drive. The number of kilometers amounted to around 100 billion in 2024, according to calculations by the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (KiM). This is equal to 2.5 million trips around the world. Half of all kilometers flown were covered by 9 percent of the population.

"Especially people in a favorable financial situation are flying a lot,” the KiM said after conducting research into flying behavior. They looked at flights for private reasons and business trips via airplane.

Most of the flights in the study departed from the Netherlands, with Schiphol still the most popular airport. Around 13 percent chose to depart from an airport in Belgium or Germany in 2024. “Most of the residents in a border region chose to use a foreign airport. The most important reason to do that is proximity and price.”

The research involved 4,000 people filling in a survey. A small minority of 6 percent opted for a form of CO2 compensation on their last flight, for example, by making a small additional payment for forest projects. Trees absorb CO2, although in recent years various studies have shown that such projects do not yield enough to fully offset aircraft emissions.

Most of the respondents also assume that they will continue to fly in the future. “People with strong climate awareness fly shorter flights, use the compensation more often, and usually plan to fly less,” the researchers added.