The District Court, in short, prohibited the Dutch State from limiting the number of flights to Schiphol Airport from 500,000 each year to 460,000. The District Court held that the Dutch State's decision to cap the number of flights at 460,000 a year violates the Balanced Approach Regulation. The judgment can be found here. The hearing on 21 March 2023 was widely reported in the media.
This win for the aviation sector is a coordinated effort with KLM and Delta (represented by Allen & Overy), IATA, Airlines for America, United Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Lufthansa, Jet Blue and Federal Express (represented by NautaDutilh). Corendon, TUI and easyJet joined KLM and Delta.
"The Haarlem Court has reaffirmed that the government simply has to play by the rules of the game when making political choices. There are probably alternative measures that lead to the same noise reduction. The State must take these into account in defining and formulating its policy," states partner Paul Olden.
The team further consisted of Simon Hellendall, Arthur Boitelle, Bjarni Schim and Robert van Galen.