Schiphol Airport will see takeoffs and landings fall by anywhere from 25 to 30 percent during the NATO Summit scheduled for June in The Hague. The meeting of the military alliance nations is expected to bring 45 heads of state, along with their defense and foreign affairs political leaders, as well as 6,000 delegation members and 2,000 journalists. The closure of airspace over The Hague in anticipation of their arrival will coincide the planned closure of the Buitenveldertbaan, a key Schiphol west-east runway that runs along and above the A4 motorway.
The runway cannot be closed during the winter months because it is essential to the airport’s de-icing infrastructure. Instead, the runway is set to close from May 10 to Sept. 28, the airport and Ministry of Infrastructure confirmed.
The NATO Summit will take place from June 24-25, with attendees flying in and out from June 21-27, an airport spokesperson told ANP. Summer season flights will be dropped from the schedule during this period, to guarantee NATO delegation members are “properly” received, the spokesperson said. The spokespersons said regular airline passengers will only be minimally impacted.
However, the passenger airline industry sees the poor timing of the maintenance project as part of a pattern of decisions negatively hitting the sector. The expected cancellations in June could lead to millions of euros in damages for airlines based at Schiphol, the second largest airport in the European Union. “Such a ma.
