A Majority in the Dutch House Backs a 478,000-Flight Cap at Schiphol, the Airport’s First New Rulebook in 18 Years

A majority in the Dutch House of Representatives backed new operating rules for Amsterdam Schiphol on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, capping the airport at 478,000 flights a year, of which no more than 27,000 may operate at night. The cabinet wants the rules in force on November 1.

As NOS reported, it is the first new airport traffic decree for Schiphol in 18 years. Part of the opposition called it a legally uncertain path, noting that environmental groups have already announced lawsuits.

What the new decree sets

Night, under the decree, runs from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., according to the Council of State’s summary of the draft. The decree also caps the noise and emissions those flights may produce.

The cabinet’s goal is 20% fewer people seriously annoyed by aircraft noise across the whole day, and 15% fewer at night, measured against the situation on November 1, 2024. It also wants to restore residents’ legal protection by ending the practice of only partly enforcing Schiphol’s noise rules.

The cap is not permanent. The decree lets the cabinet raise it in steps to a maximum of 500,000 flights a year, but only once the noise and emission conditions are met.

That growth path is where the debate is still open. Under the cabinet’s plan, half of any calculated noise reduction goes to residents and half is turned back into flights, ANP reported.

CDA and D66 want 60% to go to residents, no growth at night, and no first growth step during the current cabinet’s term. The House votes on their proposals next week.

Infrastructure Minister Vincent Karremans had already promised to put any growth step to the House before taking it. He described the decree as a balance between reducing nuisance and keeping an open economy that cannot do without aviation.

Why a 478,000 cap barely changes Schiphol’s traffic

Schiphol handled 477,552 air transport movements in 2025, according to the airport’s own traffic review. The new ceiling sits about 450 flights above that total, so it holds traffic at roughly last year’s level rather than cutting it.

Once the decree applies, that leaves little room for extra flights until a growth step is approved. The cap covers every airline at the airport, including US carriers such as United, which plans to fly its new A321XLR to Amsterdam from Washington Dulles starting December 1.

The real change is legal. For years Schiphol operated under a noise system known as the NNHS, worked out from 2008 onward at the airport’s consultation table, with a ceiling of 500,000 flights.

That system was never written into law. The Council of State has described how the state tolerated the departure from the law rather than enforcing it.

The arrangement began to unravel in court. On March 20, 2024, the District Court of The Hague ruled in a case brought by the residents’ foundation RBV that residents’ interests had to weigh more heavily.

The court gave the state a year to restore their legal protection, Karremans wrote to parliament, and that year has passed.

A faster, narrower amendment with the same 478,000 cap took effect on November 1, 2025. Airlines, municipalities and residents’ groups appealed it, and the Council of State annulled it on March 11, 2026.

The court’s reasoning explains the shape of the new decree: a flight count is not a noise limit, because not every aircraft produces the same amount of noise. The court kept the 27,000 night cap in place as a provisional measure until the new decree takes effect.

The airlines on that appeal included KLM, Delta Air Lines, easyJet and IATA, ch-aviation reported. They argued against the cap, while the municipalities and residents wanted deeper limits.

The legal risks that remain

The Council of State’s advisory division reviewed the draft on September 9, 2026, and backed the goal of restoring residents’ protection. It asked the cabinet to explain what can be done if noise limits are exceeded, and to take each step toward 500,000 flights only once its conditions are assured.

It also noted that some residents could end up with more noise under the decree, and asked how their interests had been weighed. Karremans told parliament he would answer each point in a follow-up report.

The second problem is the nature permit. The District Court of The Hague annulled Schiphol’s permit, which covered up to 500,000 flights a year, in June 2025.

The airport still has no nature permit, and the government tolerates it operating without one for now. Karremans expects the agriculture ministry’s nitrogen package to resolve that.