JetBlue is asking the U.S. Division of Transportation to ban KLM from New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) within the occasion JetBlue can now not fly out of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) because of the Dutch airport’s proposed efforts to cut back flight capability.
In an Oct. 20 letter to the DOT, the New York-based service concluded that it’ll lose its slots at Schiphol if the Dutch authorities implements capability cuts on the airport. The proposed cuts would scale back Schiphol’s capability from 500,000 flights a yr to about 452,000, according to German news agency DW. JetBlue argued that banning KLM from JFK could be a “proportional countermeasure” to the proposed flight caps.
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JetBlue launched each day flights to Amsterdam in August from New York, making the Dutch metropolis the service’s third European vacation spot. Jetblue added each day flights to Amsterdam from Boston in September.
The Dutch authorities’s proposal to chop capability in an try to curb noise air pollution at Schiphol — one in all Europe’s busiest airports — has been met with pushback. KLM, which makes use of Schiphol as a serious hub, and different airways — together with Delta Air Traces, Corendon Airways, EasyJet and Tui Airways — had filed a lawsuit to dam these plans.
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A earlier Dutch courtroom ruling was in favor of the airways, arguing that the Dutch authorities didn’t adjust to all European legal guidelines, which state that flight caps can happen solely in spite of everything different avenues to restrict noise air pollution have been thought-about. Nevertheless, a Dutch appeals courtroom ruled in favor of the government in July, permitting the proposed measures to enter impact as early as 2024.
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KLM reiterated its stance towards the flight limits at Schiphol in a press release, noting that it may face repercussions because of the proposed cuts.
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“We’ve got repeatedly identified to the Dutch authorities the doable penalties {that a} pressured contraction may deliver within the type of retaliation,” KLM mentioned within the assertion. “That is very damaging for KLM and endangers the community that connects the Netherlands with the remainder of the world.”
Nicely earlier than JetBlue began flying to Amsterdam, it had actively lobbied towards the Dutch authorities’s proposal after experiencing regulatory roadblocks in Amsterdam. In February, JetBlue argued the Dutch authorities violated the phrases of the open-skies settlement between the U.S. and European Union after it was denied slots at Schiphol a number of instances.
Whereas JetBlue finally obtained slots at Schiphol, it now believes it may lose these slots earlier than the summer time 2024 journey season, based on the letter. The service argued that whether it is booted from Schiphol, prospects could be left with fewer selections and better fares.
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JetBlue additionally asserted that one other means for it to remain at Schiphol could be if KLM transferred over a few of its slots on the airport for the summer time journey season.
The DOT didn’t reply to a request for remark by the point of publication. JetBlue mentioned it didn’t have any additional touch upon the matter.
“Nothing lower than swift, decisive Departmental motion, within the type of the proportional countermeasures JetBlue has described herein, will represent a adequate response,” the letter learn.
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