Last year, there was a slight increase in the number of reports and people reporting to the Local Community Contact Centre Schiphol (BAS). This is evident from the organisation's recently published annual report. We tell you all about it in this article.
Published on: 2 May 2024
The total number of flight movements increased by 8 percent in the operating year 2023 (1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023) compared to the operating year 2022. This is approximately equal to the rise in the number of reports, which increased by 7 percent to 187,065. The number of reporting parties grew by approximately 1 percent, from 10,520 in 2022 to 10,612 in 2023.
Focus group
This section concerns individuals from the so-called focus group. These are people who make one to a maximum of five hundred reports per year. The number of these frequent reporting parties remained the same, with 85 people making more than five hundred reports in the 2023 operating year. These are registered and monitored, but not included in the analysis of the annual report. This is to avoid presenting a misleading picture.
Largest increase in reporting parties
The largest increase in the number of reporting parties came from the municipality of Uithoorn, which is part of the Aalsmeerbaan Runway cluster. The runway was not in use for part of the year in 2022 due to maintenance but was used for the entire year in 2023. In addition, due to the increased number of flight movements, we had to deal with longer peak times. This meant that the Aalsmeerbaan Runway was used more often as a second runway. The maintenance of the Kaagbaan Runway in November 2022 and September 2023 also led to more frequent use of the Aalsmeerbaan and therefore to more reports.
Boeing 747-400
As in previous years, the Boeing 747-400 is the aircraft that receives the most reports. This aircraft was involved in 19 of the top 20 flights with the most reports. It was also striking that proportionately more reports were submitted about flights in the late evening and at night. Local residents indicated that they suffered from sleep disturbance as a result of air traffic. Schiphol believes that a good night's sleep is important for our neighbours and that is why we have been calling for a night closure in our 8-point plan for some time.
Improved living environment
The annual report provides valuable information for Schiphol as it gives us more insight into the nuisance experienced by local residents. This allows us to take measures that ensure a better living environment. We are doing this in various ways, including with our nuisance-reducing Minder Hinder programme that we're implementing together with LVNL and with and our 8-point plan. Curious about what else is in the annual report? You can find the entire document here (in Dutch).
Sounding board
Would you like to discuss the Local Community Contact Centre Schiphol's services? Then sign up for the sounding board group. The aim is to meet twice a year and exchange ideas about (improving) the provision of information. You can sign up here.