Court gives green light to plan to reduce flights at busy Schiphol Airport

Earlier this year, Schiphol Airport announced plans to phase out all flights between midnight and 5am (Peter Dejong/AP)

Appeal court judges in Amsterdam have ruled that the Dutch government can order Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs, to reduce the number of flights from 500,000 per year to 460,000.

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal overturned a lower court that concluded in April the government of the Netherlands did not follow the correct procedure when it told Schiphol last year to cut flights.