Schipol to expand…..

Taken from Reuters on Friday…

Amsterdam Airport operator Schiphol Group may increase its number of flights and expand further if it meets noise-level conditions, the Dutch cabinet decided on Friday.

“In the first place the cabinet wants to maintain Schiphol’s position as one of the most important hubs in northwest Europe,” the traffic ministry said in a statement.

Schiphol may increase its number of flights to 520,000 from 400,000 currently, news agency ANP reported. The traffic ministry said it would disclose the exact number of flights and other details of the decision early next week.

The cabinet also announced measures to limit the nuisance caused by air traffic to people living in fly zones such as changing fly routes, discouraging or fining operators using noisy aircraft and measuring aircraft noise.

The cabinet said these measures would permit Schiphol Group, which also holds stakes in Brisbane Airport and Terminal 4 of New York’s JFK Airport, to develop in its current location for the next 10 to 20 years.

It expects the limits to growth to be reached by the beginning or the end of that period depending on the speed of air traffic growth. It also asked Schiphol to make plans for expansion both for the short and long term.

The cabinet said it would use these plans to review the need of a possible further expansion of the airport or moving air traffic to other airports.

Air France-KLM welcomed the decision, but said any expansion of Schiphol depended on how the details were hammered out and warned against drawing conclusions early.