As of next year, the use of aircraft that make more noise will be a lot more expensive at Schiphol. The airport has set new airport charges that also take aircraft noise into account. The more noise planes make, the more airlines pay. With these new fees, Schiphol wants to make flying with quieter planes more attractive.
For every aircraft that arrives at Schiphol, an airline pays airport charges. In return, airlines and their passengers are allowed to use the facilities in and around the terminal. You can compare it to the mooring fee you pay for your boat in the harbour. Schiphol uses the income from the airport charges to pay for services like security, assistance and cleaning. It also ensures the maintenance and improvement of the terminal. The airport charge is the amount paid per flight. This consists of a fee per aircraft (take-off and landing) and a fixed amount per passenger. The fee per aircraft depends on the noise category in which the aircraft is classified.
The fee an airline pays partly depends on the aircraft type. And that's good news for Schiphol's neighbours. This measure means that Schiphol encourages airlines to fly with increasingly quiet aircraft. Newer and quieter planes pay significantly less, while older, noisier planes pay significantly more. Schiphol is therefore stimulating fleet renewal by way of the airport charges. It is going to be financially much more attractive to fly to Schiphol in quieter planes in the coming years. What's more, the oldest, noisiest planes that still come to Schiphol from time to time will be banned as of 2025.
The difference in airport charges is even bigger when it comes to night flights. An aircraft that takes off at night pays 3 to 6 times more than one that takes off during the day. The exact fee that needs to be paid depends on the aircraft type. You can see how that works in the figure below:
Each aircraft type is categorised according to noise, with category 1 for the noisiest planes and category 7 for the quietest ones. For example, in 2027 an older A320 (category 3) will pay almost 3.5 times more than the quieter A320NEO (category 7) during the day.