The Trump administration threatens retaliation if the Schiphol Airport flight cap affects American companies.
The Trump administration threatened to take retaliatory measures against the Netherlands if American airlines were affected by the Dutch government's plan to reduce the number of flights at Schiphol Airport starting in November.
Transportation Secretary under Trump, Sean Duffy, indirectly stated that European countries that intervene in an "unjustified" manner in the air agreement between the European Union and the United States will face the same fate as Mexico. He announced that the United States would restrict the operations of Mexican airlines in response to Mexico's decision to reduce the capacity of the busy capital airport, considering the cancellation of takeoff and landing rights for American airlines to be a "flagrant violation" of the air agreement with Washington.
Duffy confirmed that this serves as a "warning" to any country thinking of "exploiting" the United States, adding that the Trump administration is closely monitoring European measures to reduce noise at airports to ensure that American airlines are not unfairly harmed. The Netherlands is the only country in the European Union planning to reduce the number of flights to limit noise. The Dutch government intends to reduce the maximum number of flight movements at Schiphol Airport from 500,000 to 478,000 annually, which could lead to some airlines losing their current takeoff and landing rights.
Washington sees any loss of landing and takeoff rights for American airlines as a violation by the European Union of aviation agreements. Delta Air Lines may be affected by this move, as it currently operates 17 daily flights to and from Schiphol Airport, and it is a partner of KLM, which may also face consequences if the U.S. administration retaliates, given that the U.S. market is the most important for the Dutch airline.
This American threat is currently being used as a supporting element in the lawsuit filed by airlines before the Dutch Council of State, in an attempt to overturn the flight reduction plan. The government bases its plan on a court ruling issued in March of last year, which indicated that the government had failed to protect the residents surrounding the airport from the noise generated by aviation.