Amsterdam cuts flights: what changes from 2024 for those flying from Holland
From Klm to JetBlue, via easyJet and Delta Air Lines: these are the most important airlines that will have to [...]
KLM
SkyTeam
AMS
From KLM to JetBlue, via easyJet and Delta Air Lines: these are the most important airlines that will have to change their flight plans on Amsterdam starting next year.
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This is all because of a ruling by the Dutch Court of Appeals, which agreed with the local government's decision to permanently cut air movements at Schiphol Airport.
Why Amsterdam cuts
Last Friday, in fact, the court authorized the government of the Netherlands to proceed with a clean cut of movements planes from 500 thousand to 460 thousand per year (by the end of 2023) to 440,000 in 2024.
A 12% epochal cut of flights planned each year useful, according to the government, to counteract the environmental and noise impact of air transport around Europe's third-largest airport by number of passengers.
What changes at the airport
First of all, it will be necessary to dispense with the night flights over Amsterdam. Under the Dutch government's rule, in fact, all incoming connections between midnight and five in the morning. As of today, for example, about 30 flights a day are scheduled to arrive in this time slot.
Almost all of these connections are operated by Transavia (regional rib of the Air France-Klm Group), Corendon and Tui Fly: all summer routes to vacation destinations in Europe, Asia and Africa.
In addition, all flights departing between midnight and 6 a.m. (to date about fifteen a day between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.) will also be canceled, almost all of which will be charged to Transavia.
It will also trigger the ban on the noisiest aircraft (So the older ones, ed.) and for private jets, and the idea of opening an additional runway, a hypothesis that also responded to the great growth in demand for flights in recent years, is abandoned for good.
The impact on KLM
Among the airlines most affected by this choice is certainly KLM, the Dutch national airline, in fact, has its hub right at Schiphol and has already Launched a plan to respond to future reduction of flights. Plan to use newer and larger aircraft, as well as shift some routes to Paris Charles de Gaulle (partner Air France's hub).
Just last month, in fact, KLM announced a new order For 100 Airbus A320neo and A321neo which will replace the older Boeing 737s. This will decrease the Dutch carrier's noise impact and add, on average, about fifty more seats on board.
In fact, the new Airbus neos range in capacity from 195 seats on the 320 to 235 on the A321. I Old Boieng 737, on the other hand, can accommodate from 160 seats in the -700 version to 189 in the largest version, the -900.
This choice somewhat traces that of British Airways which a few years ago had to change its fleet for overseas flights in Europe because of impositions on fewer flights from London Heathrow.
Paris to Rotterdam: flights to other airports
An additional measure under consideration, then, would be to move some of KLM's operations, especially long-haul, to the airport in Paris Charles de Gaulle. As of today, in fact, Air France has no limits imposed on slots in the French capital and could come to the rescue of partner KLM.
Another option would be to divert some routes to "nearby" but still Dutch airports, such as Rotterdam-Hague, Eindhoven and Maastricht-Aachen. This choice, assumes, however, a greater train+airplane integration to offer passengers a more convenient, one-ticket service.
Also Delta Air Lines, KLM's partner on transatlantic flights and the Skyteam alliance may experience cancellations and frequency rescheduling.
Also for this reason Klm, Delta, Corendon, Tui fly and easyJet had appealed against the government's decision to restrict air movements. Appeal first upheld by the Dutch court, whose ruling, however, was overturned last week by the Court of Appeals itself.
JetBlue connections at risk?
The US company JetBlue fought hard (and legally) to obtain slots in Amsterdam, which the government seemed unwilling to grant.
At the end of a long procedure, however, JetBlue has obtained authorization and the time band and From August it will start operating its flights from New York to Amsterdam, in competition with KLM itself. It is not certain, however, that this choice will change the North American airline's plans.
Other airlines involved
Taking the biggest hit, however, will be the airlines that were developing ambitious growth plans at the Dutch airport. Corendon Airlines, a Turkish airline, flies from Amsterdam to Antalya and Izmir. Transavia operates lots of flights to the Southern Europe and among them Italy (Pisa and Bari, for example) during nighttime hours.
easyJet, finally, has expanded its European route map from the Dutch hub and has flights (among others) to London, Berlin, Milan, Prague, Manchester, Nice, Mikonos, Bristol, and Geneva. It is likely that some of these routes will therefore have to be cut in the future.
