Netherlands airports join forces to synchronize cargo flow

MIAMI — The private company that owns and manages Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on Thursday finalized a deal to amass a 40% stake in Maastricht Aachen Airport and form a strategic partnership heavily focused on developing an integrated cargo hub.

Royal Schiphol Group is investing 4.2 million euros ($4.5 million) to bring Maastricht (MST), the second-largest cargo airport within the Netherlands, under its wing. The province of Limburg stays Maastricht’s majority owner.

Schiphol is the third-largest cargo airport in Europe by tonnage and the house base for global carrier KLM.

Maastricht processed greater than 119,000 tons of airfreight in 2022, a fraction of the 1.6 million tons moved through Schiphol, 125 miles to the north. It’s the European hub for Turkish Cargo and a destination for freighters operated by airlines resembling Emirates, Qatar Airways and Saudia.

“Each Schiphol and MST recognize the importance of cargo, precious freighter slots and good connectivity with the remaining of the world. This collaboration will add value for our cargo partners at each airports, as we attempt towards innovation, efficiency and sustainability,” said Joost van Doesburg, head of cargo at Schiphol Airport, in a press release.

Teaming up will involve each airports sharing market intelligence and freight data to seek out ways to extend transport efficiency. Officials said Maastricht offers a really perfect testing ground for key priorities resembling sustainable aviation, including electric aircraft.

Along with collaborating on product development, the Dutch airports can even share resources within the areas of strategy, real-estate, commerce and maintenance.

The signing of the deal follows Maastricht airport’s recent announcement of plans to grow its freighter capability by extending the operational length of its upgraded runway to 9,022 feet by 2025. 

One innovation into account is for the 2 airports to ascertain a secure and sustainable truck corridor where cargo might be shuttled in either direction with low-emission vehicles, essentially making Maastricht a feeder port for overcrowded Schiphol, Olaf van Reeden, Schiphol’s cargo partnerships director, said Monday in an interview on the Cargo Network Services conference here.

Thursday’s announcement didn’t mention the controversial proposal by the Dutch government to cut back flights at Schiphol for pollution and noise reasons, but moving toward a single airport system eventually is likely to be a compromise to opened up societal impacts while maintaining Schiphol’s major role within the national economy. 

Fight over fewer flights

A federal court is about in mid-June to listen to an appeal from the Dutch government after a lower court threw out proposed flight caps designed to satisfy the European Union’s goal of reducing overall aviation emissions 55% by 2030 and completely by 2050. The federal government wants to cut back the number of obtainable takeoff and landing slots available to airlines to 460,000 next yr, eventually to 440,000, from a half-million. 

The lower court agreed with airlines that the federal government had violated EU and international law by not taking a balanced approach that exhausted all other options, in consultation with stakeholders, before attempting to impose a 12% capability cut.

Opponents argue that passengers and freight might take inefficient routes to get to the Netherlands without going through Schiphol, which could actually increase the environmental impact. Flights could be rerouted to other hub airports in Europe and do nothing to cut back overall emissions. If airlines were forced to fly fewer routes, they may opt to fly larger aircraft, that are more noisy.

Logistics groups warn that all-cargo operators could migrate to other airports once the slot cap is reached, harming the economy and pushing more shipments onto roads. Without sufficient all-cargo traffic, freight infrastructure and services won’t be fully utilized and costs will increase.

“Regulators should not less than give you the chance to exhibit that their actions will achieve their very own stated goals, moderately than be nothing greater than costly theatrics with unintended consequences that might as a substitute have the alternative effects,” said Michael Webber, a U.S.-based airport consultant, in a LinkedIn post.

A study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, commissioned by unidentified opponents calling themselves the Red Schiphol Campaign, predicts that eliminating 60,000 flights per yr will reduce the quantity of cargo handled at Schiphol by greater than 198,000 tons value $12.4 billion, representing an 11.4% drop in volume. The report also says the flight cap could lead to 1.3 million fewer tourists using Schiphol.

Meanwhile, Schiphol Airport has individually proposed latest limits on flights to exhibit its seriousness in addressing public concerns about aviation. It desires to ban takeoffs from midnight to six a.m. and landings from midnight to five a.m., which might eliminate 10,000 flights per yr. One other a part of the eight-point plan would safeguard cargo by reserving 2.5% of the available slots for cargo flights. Cargo airlines often fly irregular schedules, making it difficult to comply with rules requiring 80% usage of allotted slots of their flight schedule or risk losing them. But the brand new night closure will apply to cargo.

Schiphol can also be abandoning plans for a further runway. The airport operator has previously criticized the federal government for not developing nearby Lelystad Airport as an overflow alternative for narrow-body jets to alleviate pressure on Schiphol.

“Schiphol connects the Netherlands with the remaining of the world. We would like to maintain doing that, but we must do it higher. The one way forward is to change into quieter and cleaner more rapidly. We’ve got thought of growth but too little about its impact for too long,” said Ruud Sontag, CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, on April 4.

Maastricht 747 measures

Maastricht airport in November proposed a ban on the noisiest, most polluting freighters — specifically the Boeing 747-200 and MD-11. It also desires to double the fees for Boeing 747-400 freighters using the airport and never allow them by 2030. A 747-200 prohibition would eliminate two flights per week.

The phase-out measures would replace a 35% surcharge applied in 2019 to the noisiest aircraft. Because the introduction of the surcharge, the variety of flight movements with 747-200 and comparable aircraft types has been almost halved in comparison with 2018 levels.

The status of the stricter proposal is unclear, however the Limburg provincial council has not given its approval thus far.

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