Summary
- The US Department of Transportation has approved a criticism by JetBlue and A4A against the Netherlands and EU for violating the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement.
- JetBlue is asking for restrictions on KLM flights into JFK in response to the slot reductions at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
- Schiphol’s decision to chop capability has resulted in JetBlue losing landing slots, while KLM might be forced to scale back its operations on the airport.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved a criticism submitted by JetBlue and airline lobbyist group Airlines for America (A4A) in September against the Netherlands and European Union for an alleged violation of the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement. The approval of the criticism is the newest ramification stemming from Schiphol’s (AMS) decision to chop capability, a move that ultimately resulted in JetBlue losing landing slots at AMS for summer 2024.
JetBlue has urged authorities to reply to AMS’s slot reductions in kind by restricting KLM flights into Latest York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). With the criticism approved, DOT has agreed to start negotiations with EU and Dutch authorities and is asking for KLM, Martinair, and TUI Airlines Nederland to submit their US schedules in seven days as an element of the consultation, in accordance with reporting by FlightGlobal.
AMS first announced capability limits in September, a move brought because the Dutch government seeks to chop noise pollution and carbon emissions from Europe’s third-busiest airport. AMS’s flight cap at 452,500 annually is 10% below the airport’s 2019 traffic.
The reduction in allowable movements includes an additional restriction in operations between 23:00 and 07:00 am local to only 28,700 flights per yr, down from a current limit of 32,000-night flights.
KLM’s side of it
Photo: Jake Hardiman | Easy Flying
The announcement was met with industry backlash. KLM itself called the Schiphol capability cap “” and “” Prior to the announcement of flight cuts, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) cautioned against severe consequences for restrictions in passenger and cargo operations as AMS.
While airlines like KLM, with historical rights to takeoff and landing slots at AMS, might be forced to scale back service, greater than twenty-four airlines, including JetBlue, were denied slots entirely. JetBlue had only begun service to AMS from JFK and Boston (BOS) earlier this yr, utilizing its fleet of nine A321LRs. JetBlue’s service to AMS got here during expansion in Europe, serving cities like Paris and London.
Reduction in capability at AMS signifies that KLM might be forced to chop nearly 3.1% of its operations from its hub at Schiphol. KLM, which has had its route network hit hard by the closure of Russian airspace, operates to greater than 140 destinations from Schiphol.
Air France-KLM itself posted record operating profit despite a lag in capability in its most up-to-date financial earnings.
Flight restrictions in Europe
Restrictions to air travel in Europe aren’t recent, neither is it exclusive to Amsterdam. In December of 2022, the EU upheld a ban on short-haul flights when Europe’s network of passenger rail services was capable of provide transport along the identical route inside two and a half hours.
Currently, the UK government has limited operations between 23:30 and 06:00 local at London’s Gatwick (LGW), Heathrow (LHR), and Stansted (STN) targeted at noise reduction.
JetBlue in turbulence
The criticism against the EU is not JetBlue’s only legal hurdle currently. The airline just entered court last week over plans to amass low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines. Spirit and JetBlue have fleet commonality, with just 10% of overlapping routes; a merger could end in massive network potential for the airline, while the Department of Justice argues the merger would drive up ticket prices and violate antitrust law.
JetBlue had just removed greater than 3,000 flights from its January 2024 schedule after posting a 3rd quarter financial lack of $153 million. During its most up-to-date earnings call, JetBlue management cited air traffic control-related cancellations as one in every of the contributing aspects to the airline’s poor financial performance.
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
For its part, Spirit Airlines’ leadership says the merger can be within the airline’s best interest because the carrier grapples with flight cancellations stemming from engine inspections, with drawl from Denver International Airport, and the suspension of recent crew training following a poor financial performance in Q3.