Air carriers from the Gulf states will not be given new landing rights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a senior official was quoted as saying.
The tough decision stems from the threat faced by region’s national carriers due to the massive growth of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar, said the report in Nieuwsuur.
This was already announced in March, but it wasn’t clearly communicated at that time, a spokesperson for State Secretary Wilma Mansveld said in the report.
The European Union is currently negotiating with both the UAE and Qatar on the issue and “It will be difficult negotiations,” the report cited Euro commissioner Violeta Bulc as saying.
According to Peter Hartman, commissioner at Air France-KLM, Schipol and the Dutch government underestimate the threat of airlines from the Middle East. “It will greatly affect the employment around Schiphol and beyond,” he said in the report.
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