report
Monitoring impacts of Balanced Approach measures for Schiphol
Background
The number of people severely affected by noise and the number of homes in the vicinity of Schiphol must be reduced by 15% by 1 November 2025 (in addition to autonomous developments), both at night and over a 24-hour period. The Dutch government defined a package of measures to achieve this noise target through a Balanced Approach procedure. For each measure the expected noise impact was estimated.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) has asked To70 and Beelining to monitor whether the expected impacts are actually being achieved.
Results
An Action Plan has been drawn up to monitor the impacts of the measures. The impacts are calculated for the entire 2026 operating year, as the measures may not yet have reached their full potential by 1 November 2025, and because the impacts may vary between the summer and winter seasons. During the operating year, the impacts will be assessed at three moments in time – 1 November 2025, 1 April 2026 and 1 November 2026 – to assess whether the measures are having the intended impacts. The results of the first two measurement points are partly based on forecasts. At the third and final measurement point, all actual data for the 2026 operational year will be available and the impacts can be definitively determined.
- Measurement point 1: The noise targets for the night were comfortably met at measurement point 1, but the noise targets for the entire 24-hour period were not. The measure airport charges differentiation had a greater impact than previously expected, as airlines deployed more quiet aircraft. However, the measures relating to additional fleet renewal, KLM’s night-time optimisation and the ban on noisy aircraft at night had a smaller impact than expected. This can be explained, respectively, by the delayed fleet renewal at KLM and Transavia, limited shift of quiet KLM aircraft between day and night, and the fact that fewer noisy aircraft have been taken out of night-time operations. As noted above, the results for measurement point 1 are still partly based on forecasts. In addition, the effect of airport charges differentiation is likely still underestimated, due to a lack of information on the latest aircraft types. This information will be available at measurement point 2.
Methodology
The impacts of the measures are determined by comparing the number of people and homes seriously affected by aircraft noise in the situation without the measures (the baseline) with the situation with the measures. For the sake of consistency, the same baseline is used as in the Balanced Approach procedure. The changes in traffic that have occurred after the measures came into effect and can be attributed to the measures are then projected onto the baseline to obtain the situation with the measures. More information about the methodology can be found in the Action Plan.
Colophon
Client: Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
In cooperation with: To70
Type: Research report
Date: May 2025 – present
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(reports are in Dutch)
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