JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) is opposing a motion filed to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) to dismiss a complaint by the US budget carrier against the Dutch government over its attempts to cap flight movements at Amsterdam Schiphol to reduce noise pollution.

KLM, on April 13, had filed a motion requesting that the department dismiss JetBlue's complaint, arguing the issue had been resolved after the Noord-Holland District Court on April 5 ruled that the Dutch government did not comply with European Union rules in proposing the reduction of aircraft movements at Schiphol Airport. The court ruled the Dutch government cannot reduce the number of flights at Schiphol from 500,000 to 460,000 for the 2023-2024 winter season.

KLM also pointed out JetBlue on April 11 had announced that the Dutch court's decision had given it the confidence to debut flights from New York JFK and Boston to Amsterdam in the 2023 summer, thus acknowledging - said KLM - that "there is no remaining issue to be decided in this proceeding and that its complaint is now moot".

However, on April 24, JetBlue opposed KLM's motion saying its complaint had not been resolved. It said the Dutch lower court's decision was inconclusive because the Dutch government had filed a notice of its intent to appeal the ruling. It argued that if successful, the Dutch government could still implement the capacity reduction plan in the winter 2023/24 season. "Until the Dutch government withdraws its experimental capacity reduction plan or a court of ultimate authority upholds the lower court's decision, the plan's threat to adversely impact JetBlue's and other carriers' services at AMS continues," the low-cost airline stated.

As a new entrant, JetBlue faced continuing uncertainty about its long-term access to slots at Amsterdam, which the Dutch lower court decision had not resolved. Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL) had granted JetBlue only ad hoc, temporary and non-historic slots at Schiphol for the Summer 2023 season. "Moreover, ACNL has cautioned that JetBlue has no assurance that it will receive any particular slot timings or historical rights in any slots for the winter 2023/2024 scheduling season or after that. Of course, it was only after JetBlue filed its complaint [at the DOT] that ACNL offered JetBlue any slots at all," the airline disclosed.

JetBlue said the Royal Schiphol Group (the majority-Dutch state-owned airport operator) "appears to be exacerbating the new entrant access problem at AMS by retiring, for the winter 2023/2024 scheduling season, historic slots previously held by carriers that have ceased service at the airport, rather than returning such slots to the pool for re-allocation to other carriers, including new entrants". [...] "Such action not only imposes an unjustifiable and unreasonable restriction on JetBlue and other US carriers at AMS but also has the practical effect of achieving that which the Dutch government has been prevented from doing by the lower court – reducing annual movements at the airport for the upcoming winter scheduling season," the US carrier charged.

JetBlue initially filed its complaint against the Dutch government on February 14, 2023, under the International Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act. It asserts the Dutch government violates its obligations under the US-EU Open Skies air transport agreement by failing to ensure that JetBlue is granted all operating authorisations, including slots, at Schiphol.

The DOT will decide on JetBlue's complaint by May 15, 2023.