Night’s rest is not controversial, says Ruud Sondag halfway through the presentation of Schiphol’s half-year figures. “You sleep or you don’t sleep.” And that is why, said the interim CEO of Schiphol on Friday, it is very important that the cancellation of night flights and other measures to limit the nuisance at the airport are not postponed.
Sondag: “I appeal to the outgoing cabinet and the House of Representatives: do not declare the policy around Schiphol controversial.” The House will soon announce which themes will be frozen until the next cabinet takes office.
If the shrinkage of Schiphol is declared controversial, the first step of the airport’s policy against noise nuisance may be canceled. Then Schiphol will not have to go back to a maximum of 460,000 flights per year, but airlines will be allowed to carry out 483,000 flights.
A case against the contraction is also pending before the Supreme Court. When it will be treated is still unknown. Nor is it known when Schiphol will receive a nature permit. The Department of Agriculture is still investigating nitrogen emissions from the airport. Without a nature permit, the state cannot make an ‘airport traffic decision’ about Schiphol and determine how many flights are allowed to take off and land. The decision on the nature permit was supposed to be published in the third quarter, but that has been postponed again.
Financial director Robert Carsouw does not expect Schiphol to have to buy up more farms or acquire nitrogen rights in order to obtain a nature permit.
In any case, Schiphol will remain below the maximum number of flights this year. For the whole of 2023, the airport expects 430,000 to 445,000 flight movements and 60 to 64 million passengers. In the first six months, 28.7 million passengers traveled to, from or via Schiphol, the company reported on Friday. That was 21 percent more than in the first half of 2022.
Turning point
According to interim CEO Sondag, the first six months of this year marked “the beginning of a turning point”. According to him, Schiphol has been a “nice airport” again in recent months and a “pleasant place to travel”.
This was mainly due to the operational measures that Sondag and his colleagues have taken. They have largely eliminated the queues for security. The security companies have hired a total of 1,050 new employees (the target was 850 new security guards).
Also read this report: ‘You can’t see us, so it doesn’t matter how we work here’: what happens in Schiphol’s baggage basement
According to Schiphol, security employees have received a total of 40 percent more wages. Recruiting and training new people is a continuous process, Sondag emphasized. Every day the security firms hire 30 new employees, 12 people leave every day.
By improving security, Schiphol has greatly improved departures from the airport, says Sondag. Now it is also important to improve arrivals and transfers, especially baggage handling. To this end, Sondag called on the companies involved to break open the collective labor agreement and to improve the terms of employment of their employees.
The airport has now installed electric lifting aids in 180 places in the baggage basements, but this must be done in all 380 places in total. The Dutch Labor Inspectorate demands that Schiphol make resources available everywhere in the basements.
Schiphol previously announced that the company is going to build a new, modern luggage cellar, basement South. According to financial director Robert Carsouw, the company will invest a total of more than half a billion euros per year in new construction and renovation. Schiphol has quite a bit of overdue maintenance. For example, the oldest pier, the C pier, will eventually have to be renovated.
Carsouw could not say when the newest pier, the much-plagued A-pier, will finally be ready. After a long-running conflict with builders Ballast Nedam and the Turkish company TAV, Schiphol parted ways with both contractors. Construction group Heijmans has now made the A pier wind and watertight and BAM will finish the pier in the coming months (or years).
Carsouw does not want to say what the extra costs are. Construction circles are talking about a total budget for Pier A of more than 1 billion euros, compared to the original costs of 400 million. BAM is (still) investigating what still needs to be done and what it will cost.
Quieter, cleaner, better
They are slow steps towards what Sondag regularly calls “a quieter, cleaner and better airport.”
Schiphol wants to limit noise nuisance in the first place; therefore night flights must be cancelled. The airport wants to further limit air pollution and therefore wants a ban on the most polluting aircraft, such as old Boeing 747 freighters. At the same time, the economic value of the airport must also be preserved. That is why there is no longer room for private jets that, according to Schiphol, offer little added value but cause a lot of nuisance per passenger.
Ruud Sondag could report little progress in these areas on Friday. He especially hopes that the (outgoing) cabinet will come up with measures. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management follows a European procedure for noise-related airport capacity restrictions. Schiphol, KLM and other parties involved were able to comment on the government’s plans for the downsizing of Schiphol. The ministry is now processing it. The government will soon report the plans to the European Commission. KLM and other airlines argue that the limitation of the number of flights at Schiphol is not necessary. ‘Wait until we have renewed our fleet,’ they say. After all, new aircraft are much quieter than older ones.
Meanwhile, Schiphol threatens to clash again with the airlines. The airport wants to increase airport charges next year. This is the fee that a company pays per passenger for the services that an airport provides. It was previously agreed that the rates would increase by 12 percent. This does not cover Schiphol’s costs, says financial director Carsouw. Airlines take into account an increase of 15 percent, but Carsouw does not want to confirm that.
Airlines have taken legal action against previous increases in airport charges before the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and the courts. A new increase may also encounter resistance. Interim CEO Sondag: “The airlines expect us to have the logistics process under control. Last year they accused us of a lack of quality in our services. We have now invested in that.”
The higher airport charges are part of a structural development, emphasized the Schiphol management. Sunday: “Schiphol has long been the cheapest airport in Europe. We no longer think that is necessary. Now we are at the level of Paris airport. Quality over low cost.”
#future #Schiphol #Airport #uncertain