AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL NAMED WORLD'S BEST AIRPORT

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been named the world's Best Airport by Buying Business Travel, one of the most prestigious travel trade magazines of the United Kingdom. The magazine was recently named the country's best magazine for the travel industry. The Diamond Award was presented to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol executives at a gala dinner held at the prestigious Hurlingham Club in London, which was attended by some five hundred guests.

Schiphol is based in a very densely populated area of the world. The west of The Netherlands is overpopulated and the number of people suffering from noise nuisance and air pollution is enormous. The airport is growing and the annoyance increases as well. The Dutch aviation law from 2003 does not work at all. In February 2006 the aviation is evaluated and according to the environmental the emphasis should purely be on the quality of the environmental measures, instead concentrating on the possibilities for the growth of the ‘main port’.

The ‘main port’ grows at breakneck speed. In the last four years the airport has exceeded the noise norms many times and only once the Dutch authorities have given a mild financial penalty. In 1990 there were 207 thousand airplane landings and starts and in 2002 this already increased to 400.000. According to the environmental organisation Amsterdam airport Schiphol wants the airplane landings and starts to grow to 800.000 to one million per year in 2020. Although the airport is super important for the Dutch economy, the organisation says that more airplane activity is totally impossible in the densely populated west of The Netherlands.

In the old aviation law the noise annoyance is measured in a theoretical way and the limits are interpreted in a very flexible way. Through this vague system it is pretty easy to create room for growth of the airport. People and environmental organisations in the airport region, stress that they want a decent noise nuisance maintenance system that works with absolute sound pollution limits. Through this the airport will really have to reckon with the people living in the area that suffer under the growing noise nuisance and air pollution.

In it’s party program for the local election for the 7 th of March 2006 the social democrats explain that the people living in the neighbourhood will get direct influence on the use of the runway’s and landing-strips. Experiments will take place to find out which use of what runway causes less nuisance. Through variation in the use of the runways the Schiphol management wants to alternate periods with relative quietness with periods of noise pollution.

Although the Dutch state does its best to insulate houses and now asking the residents for their opinion, after looking at the development curve, it is fighting a losing battle. Every year airport Schiphol processes more planes. Since the airport is an important player in the Dutch economy it seems that the neighbouring people will have to accept the nuisance and pollution. Probably they have to wait until the European Union interferes.

Some inhabitants did not want to wait for the authorities anymore. They organised their own absolute noise measuring system. They have set-up a special foundation that wants to finish the impasse in the Schiphol noise population debate. They have set-up a test noise measuring network of 25 measure points. The equipment comes from a technical university and the gathered information is communicated via internet. Both private persons and local councils ordered measurement equipment and already a billion samples have been gathered. Through their network, the noise pollution foundation wants to demonstrate that it is possible to map the sound levels of passing planes in a absolute and reliable way and make a honest and clear future airport policy possible. It will very probably show that there is a limit to the growth of Schiphol Airport.

The Buying Business Travel magazine readers praised the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for its Airport City facilities and services by. The airport's one-terminal concept is also greatly appreciated by U.K. travellers. Other airports nominated for the award were Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Chicago. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been honoured with 130 international awards since 1980. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was recently named Best Airport worldwide by U.S. travel magazine and website, The Out Traveller and Best Airport in Europe by Business Traveller U.K.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol welcomed 42.5 million passengers and handled 1.4 million tonnes of cargo in 2004, ranking as Europe's fourth-largest passenger and third-largest cargo airport. Some 90 scheduled airlines operate flight services from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to around 250 destinations worldwide. The airport thus ranks as one of the four major European hubs and one of the two principal home bases for Air France-KLM and the Sky Team alliance. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is a major driver of the regional Dutch economy generating on-airport jobs for 57,600 people at the end of October 2004. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol forms part of Schiphol Group. The company is an airport operator and operates airports both in the Netherlands and abroad. Schiphol Group's ambition is to rank among the world's leading airport companies. Till what extend will profit beat social well-being? more features

February 20, 2006