The Dutch government this week made a historic announcement that the number of flights arriving at Schiphol airport will be capped to bring down pollution.

Schiphol, which is the third largest airport in Europe after London Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, will be limited to 440,000 flights a year from 2023.

This represents an 11 per cent reduction from the pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 for the central European travel hub, and is a first in terms of putting climate before economic growth.

The Dutch government, which is a majority stakeholder in Schiphol, says the change will bring down both noise and nitrogen oxide pollution (NOx).

Between 1990 – 2016 air travel emissions from the EU and UK doubled. Greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 45 per cent by 2030 to limit global heating to 1.5C.

(Source: Euronews, June 27-2022)