Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s operator believes an environmental tax to be introduced in July will lead to virtually zero growth in passenger numbers during 2008.
Passenger numbers at Amsterdam Schiphol increased by 3.7% in 2007 to 47.8 million. Aircraft movements rose by 3% to 436,000 and freight volume was up by 5.5% to 1.6 million tonnes.
But operator Schiphol Group is forecasting “little or no growth” in passenger numbers this year. President Gerlach Cerfontaine says the airport stands to “lose market share” as a result of the environmental tax to be introduced on 1 July.
“This is a bad business,” he says. “It’s bad for our position as a main airport, bad for Schiphol employees, in the region and for tourism to the Netherlands.
“It’s also bad for the environment because you can see that many people will use airports outside of the Netherlands.”
Cerfontaine states that the operator is to publish a plan this year laying down its intentions to achieve carbon neutrality in its activities by 2012. It also wants to ensure that 20% of energy used in 2020 comes from renewable sources.
“It’s an ambitious goal but, in our eyes, viable,” he says.
Despite the gloomy predictions for passenger traffic, freight traffic is expected to rise by 4% at Schiphol in 2008.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
