Amsterdam Schiphol Airport announced today that night flights and private jets will soon be banned in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution.

In a statement, the general manager of the airport says that the take-off of aircraft will be prohibited from midnight to 6 am.

Landings before 5am will also be prohibited.

These changes at one of Europe’s largest airports will be implemented from 2025-26.

“The only path we can take is to become quieter and cleaner as soon as possible,” said the airport’s CEO, Ruud Sontag. “For too long we thought only of growth and little of the price we would pay,” he added.

The ban on night flights will bring “peace to the suburbs”, after years of noise complaints.

These changes mean there will be 10,000 fewer flights per year.

Private jets will be banned because they cause “disproportionate noise pollution and C02 emissions per passenger”. Compared to a scheduled flight, private jet flights produce 20 times more C02, according to the airport.

Last November, Dutch police arrested hundreds of climate activists who occupied the airport tarmac, rode bicycles or sat in front of private jets to prevent them from taking off.

As of June 2022, the Netherlands has announced that it will reduce flights to and from Schiphol to 440,000 per year by 2024, from around 500,000 before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Major airlines including KLM, Delta and EasyJet said in March that they plan to take legal action against the Dutch government, protesting the measure.