Maximum growth for Schiphol until 2020, says advisory committee

Schiphol-AirportAmsterdam - Schiphol Airport should grow to accommodate a maximum of 510,000 flights per year by 2020 from 433,000 today, according to an advisory committee report released Wednesday.

Additionally, the report recommends the transfer of charter flights to Eindhoven in the south and Lelystad in the central-north.

"The recommendations provide Schiphol with new opportunities to grow without compromising on sustainability," Ingrid Pouw, Schiphol Airport spokeswoman told Deutsche-Presse Agentur dpa Wednesday.

"This gives a new impetus to the local economy. The entire air traffic industry expects a higher demand in air traffic for the long term. We think this report will make such a growth possible in a responsible way."

The report also recommends reducing the number of night flights, to 32,000 from the current 33,000.

Environmental organizations slammed the study for lacking representation from residential groups and termed the reports recommendations a "failure."

Meanwhile Schiphol's report for the first six months of 2008 warns of a stabilization of passenger growth due to a passenger airport tax levied on all flights departing from Schiphol that went into effect July 1.

Schiphol said the new tax would lead to lower net results for 2008 than for 2007 and requested the Dutch government to discontinue the tax immediately. (dpa)

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