the largest airport in the Netherlands says no, the Swiss don’t want to be without it

Private jet flights, which emit 20 times more CO2 emissions than a regular flight, are they compatible with the climate emergency? No, replies the environmental group to the National Assembly, which tabled a bill, debated Thursday, April 6 to ban this mode of travel deemed far too polluting. The text, which the majority does not support, has almost no chance of passing. At the same time, the boss of the largest airport in the Netherlands is opening negotiations to ban private jets from its runways. Conversely, there is no question of doing without it in Geneva, where business flights represent 10% of traffic at the international airport.

In the Netherlands, the largest airport no longer wants to accommodate private jets

The airport ofamsterdam-Schiphol announced that it would soon ban private jets. In a statement released On Tuesday, Ruud Sondag, the boss of the European Union’s second airport after Roissy, surprised the aviation world by outlining his plan to reduce air and noise pollution. It no longer wants private jets or night flights on its runways and hopes to see these measures in by 2025 or 2026. The Dutch government lost a round on Wednesday to major airlines who challenged the decision to reduce flights from 500,000 to 460,000 a year. The court found that there had been a procedural problem during the consultation of the stakeholders.

Geneva, in the top three destinations for private flights in Europe

Between finance, diplomacy, with the UN, or stays in upscale ski resorts, we understand why Geneva, which is a small airport in terms of commercial passengers, is in the top three of the biggest destinations for private flights. in Europe. This represents, every day, 10% of all flights from the international airport. According to professionals in the sector, business aviation employs nearly 3,000 people and represents 1% of Geneva’s GDP. Among Swiss environmentalists, it is demanded that these flights be very heavily taxed. But the Swiss, who travel 9,000 kilometers by plane each year, refused at the polls to create a tax on plane tickets, private or not. The biggest European show where you can afford a jet takes place… in Geneva.