In June 2022, the (previous) cabinet announced plans to reduce noise pollution around Schiphol Airport. According to the cabinet this would require reducing the airport’s annual capacity from 500,000 to 440,000 flights per year. Based on European regulations, such a capacity reduction may only be implemented if there are no other – more cost-effective – measures to achieve the noise targets. This must be determined in a so-called Balanced Approach procedure. This procedure is laid down in EU Regulation 598/2014 and consists of a number of steps:

1. 1. Definition of noise targets
   2. Identification of noise-mitigating measures
   3. Determination of the cost-effectiveness of the measures
   4. Consultation of stakeholders on the measures
   5. Notification of the package of measures to the European Commission

The noise targets have been defined by the government as follows: 20% noise reduction for the 24-hour period and 15% reduction for the night. The targets are reached in phases. In the first phase (until November 2025) noise levels should be reduced with 15% both for the 24-hour period and for the night. In the following phase (between 2026 and 2029) the remaining 5% reduction for the 24-hour period should be realized.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management asked Decisio, Beelining and To70 to identify promising measures and to determine which measures could achieve the noise targets in the most cost-effective way. The consultation and notification of the measures led to several adjustments to the package of measures. As a result, the project fell into several phases:

Phase 1 (November 2022 – March 2023)

The first phase started with drawing up an exhaustive list of noise-mitigating measures. After a feasibility study, six measures remained that could contribute to noise reduction by November 2024. It appeared that the noise targets could only be met by combining multiple measures. Five packages of measures were therefore defined in consultation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. As measures can reinforce each other or work against each other, the noise impacts and costs of the individual measures could not simply be added up, but the cost-effectiveness of the packages had to be calculated separately. The three most cost-effective packages were presented to stakeholders in the consultation phase. At the same time, the operational feasibility of the measures was assessed.

Phase 2 (March 2023 – August 2023)

The consultation phase yielded a number of new – potentially interesting – measures. As these could only be implemented after November 2024, the government decided to meet the noise targets in two steps. The largest part of the targets would still be met by November 2024 and the remainder at a later date. Three existing measures did not pass the feasibility tests and were scrapped. To70, Decisio and Beelining calculated the cost-effectiveness of the new measures. This resulted in two new packages of measures. The most cost-effective package consisted of the following measures: (1) deployment of quieter aircraft at night, (2) reducing the use of secondary runways, (3) reducing the number of night flights to 28,700 per year and (4) reducing the total number of flights to 452,500 per year. This package was notified to the European Commission in September 2023.

Phase 3 (February 2024 – May 2024)

The European Commission judged that implementation of the first package of measures by November 2024 was disproportionate. It asked the ministry to investigate to what extent the impacts of the measures could be reduced with a delayed implementation. As the notification process took longer than expected, implementation of the first package of measures by November 2024 proved impossible. Implementation was therefore postponed to November 2025. In the first phase (until November 2025) noise should be reduced by 17% for the 24-hour period and 15% for the night. In the second phase (until November 2026) the remaining 3% for the 24-hour period should be realized. The postponement allowed for the inclusion of new measures that had previously been dropped because they could not be implemented before November 2024. These included a stronger differentiation of airport charges, banning noisy aircraft and additional fleet renewal. To70, Decisio and Beelining assessed the cost-effectiveness of the new measures. A new package of measures was submitted to stakeholders for consultation in May 2024 and notified to the European Commission – with some adjustments – in September 2024. That package consisted of: (1) use of quieter aircraft at night, (2) additional fleet renewal, (3) stronger differentiation of airport charges, (4) banning noisy aircraft at night, (5) reducing the number of night flights to 27,000 per year and (6) reducing the total number of flights to 475,000-485,000 per year. A bandwidth was used as the calculations needed to be further refined. Reducing the use of secondary runways was no longer part of the package, as the measure proved operationally challenging and met resistance from local communities.

Phase 4 (June 2024 – December 2024)

Additional noise calculations showed that the number of flights needed to be reduced to around 467,000 per year to meet the November 2025 noise targets. The government considered a further reduction undesirable as it might render the Balanced Approach procedure unsuccessful and it was considered too much of a burden for the aviation sector. Based on a new weighing of the various interest, the government decided to weaken the noise target for the first phase (until November 2025) to a 15% reduction, both for the 24-hour period and for the night. The remaining 5% reduction for the 24-hour period would be achieved later (between 2026 and 2029). Based on the new noise target, around 478,000 flights are possible in 2025.