For the planned shrinkage of Schiphol, the economically least important flights that together do not yield anything for the Netherlands could be canceled first. These are flights that are mainly full of transfers. The government has a distorted view of the importance of the current aviation network for the prosperity of the Netherlands. As a result, policy is drawn up that is not aimed at aviation with the greatest possible value for the Dutch economy, but at maintaining the largest possible flight volume and the growth model of aviation. Natuur & Milieu, which commissioned the study, calls on the government to make a choice for a measuring method that provides insight into what a flight brings us and which destinations we as a country really need.
Peeters and Pels investigated how the value of the aviation destination network can be measured. A flight yields more if it contains many passengers who are staying in the Netherlands as tourists or business travelers. A flight yields little or nothing for us if it only contains connecting passengers who do not need to be in the Netherlands at all. Because every flight also costs society something through noise pollution, emissions of nitrogen and other pollutants, damage to health and climate change. It turns out that, on balance, 30% of flights yield nothing directly for the economy if the costs of climate damage are included.
