The head of Air France-KLM lashed out at the Dutch government’s decision to cap air traffic in Amsterdam, saying it will just result in flights going elsewhere.
“What is going on in the Netherlands for us is absolutely incomprehensible,” Ben Smith, the carrier group’s chief executive officer said on a media call Friday. “The actions and the punitive focus on KLM, it’s a total gift to Lufthansa Group” and British Airways parent IAG SA, he said.
The plan to limit capacity at Schiphol Airport is aimed at curbing noise and lowering the carbon footprint of flying at one of Europe’s biggest hubs for long-distance flights. It has triggered objections from various airlines, including Dutch flag carrier KLM.
Other airlines that serve the airport are already pressing for retaliation that could hurt KLM. JetBlue Airways Corp., which recently began flying to Schiphol, has asked US authorities to bar the Dutch carrier from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport if it loses access to Amsterdam.
Airlines will be told Nov. 2 on how many of their historical Schiphol slots they will lose following the capacity limits.
The cap on flights will impact the economy of the entire Amsterdam region, including shops and hotels, Smith said. He said the measure will do nothing to reduce overall pollution and said Air France-KLM has been investing in new aircraft that will reduce noise and CO2 without the need for caps.
“We don’t believe any of the transit traffic that could be impacted by a reduction in slots is going to disappear,” Smith said. “It will just transfer over other airports.”
Stockholm and Copenhagen could benefit from any shift away from Amsterdam, Smith said. Air France-KLM said earlier this month it planned to take a stake in Scandinavia’s SAS AB.
So could Brussels and cities in Germany, where Lufthansa has the largest presence, he said.
