Greenpeace: stop flights shorter than 750 km
The number of flights at Schiphol can be reduced by more
than 200,000 by no longer flying to destinations within 750 kilometres,
according to Greenpeace. These distances can be travelled more environmentally
friendly by train. That would cost 23 million air travelers a year.
Herman Style
27 november 2019,
6:01
By banning
flights shorter than 750 km, 200,000 flights at Schiphol would be cancelled.
The
environmentalists base their views on a study ordered by them on Wednesday by
HaskoningDHV, a research agency that conducts more frequent aviation
investigations - also in favour of the growth of the airport.
HaskoningDHV does
not draw any far-reaching conclusions, but notes that 54 destinations are
served from Schiphol within a radius of 750 kilometres, representing 40% of the
total number of flights at the airport. According to the study, these flights
emit a total of 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually; that is the same as the
annual emissions of around 175,000 households.
Greenpeace
considers this unacceptable because, according to the action group, these
shorter distances 'in many cases are perfectly easy to travel by train'.
"Short flights of up to one and a half hours generate more emissions per
kilometre, due to the high emissions from landing, taxiing and take-off,"
said action leader Dewi Zloch.
The action group
did not ask HaskoningDHV whether it is
feasible to allow an extra 23 million passengers to travel by train or
'electric bus'.
London
According to the
research firm, 62 flights to London go daily, with a total of 7,000 passengers
on board. On average, a plane departs every 20 minutes.
Currently, three
trains run daily between the Dutch and British capital, with a total of 2700
seats. The capacity of large sections of the track between the two cities does
not allow a tripling of the number of trains.
This also applies
to other destinations. In addition to London and Paris, only the cities of
Brussels, Berlin and Frankfurt currently have a direct train connection to
Amsterdam.
The Greenpeace
study is the third action report in a week to call for the airport to be
shrinked. Until recently, 'no growth' was the commitment of many residents'
groups and the environmental movement, now the requirements are of reducing the
number of flights to save the environment and local residents.
On Tuesday, joint
Amsterdam action groups argued that Schiphol could be reduced from 500,000 to
375,000 flights without major damage. According to research by two economists,
this means job losses, but in the current labour market, the affected workers
are quickly returning to work.
Halve
Official reports
on growth decisions clearly contradict such conclusions. With only Dutch
travellers and visitors to our country, according to research institute SEO,
about 20 European destinations and 27 intercontinental airlines remain at
Schiphol. The number of passengers at Schiphol will halve, the number of jobs
will fall from 114,000 to under 60,000 and the contribution to the Dutch
economy will plummet from nine billion to 4.6 billion euros per year.
The boom in
Schiphol investigations does not come out of the blue. Next month, the cabinet
will decide on the growth of Schiphol to 540,000 flights, the opening of
Lelystad Airport and the future of Dutch aviation.
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