JetBlue Files Complaint Against the Netherlands, EU

JetBlue on Sept. 29 filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation against the Netherlands and the European Union in opposition to the upcoming reduced flight caps at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, the carrier confirmed. JetBlue indicated it believes the Dutch government is violating the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement, and requested DOT impose countermeasures on Dutch airlines. 

Some background: In what has seemed like ping-pong decisions by the Dutch legal system this past year, the courts in April ruled in a lawsuit filed by Delta Air Lines, KLM and other carriers that the government—which is a majority owner of Schiphol—could not reduce further the number of flights allowed at the airport, which the government wanted to do in order to limit noise pollution. 

In July, another court reversed that decision, granting permission for Schiphol to limit its annual movements—takeoffs and landings. On Sept. 1, the Dutch government announced that effective March 31, 2024, movements would be capped at 460,000 annually, down from the current 500,000. Beginning Oct. 27, 2024, that figure would be reduced to 452,000, according to JetBlue. 

This isn't the first objection JetBlue has raised against the Dutch government. In February, it filed a complaint with DOT about being unable to secure slots at Schiphol. The carrier eventually was granted two ad hoc slot pairs for the summer 2023 season, and it commenced service to Amsterdam on Aug. 29 from New York and on Sept. 20 from Boston. JetBlue also received two historic-eligible slots for the winter 2023-2024 scheduling season. It then removed its complaint on June 5. 

In granting the slots, the Airport Coordination Netherlands, which coordinates slots for the airport, advised JetBlue that because the summer slots were on an ad hoc basis, they could not be eligible for historic status, and JetBlue could not be assured any slots for the summer of 2024, according to the carrier. 

In its new complaint, JetBlue believes that based on that communication with ACNL, the carrier "reasonably expects that it will not be allocated any slots at all for the summer 2024 scheduling season," and that it is "uniquely situated among U.S. carriers because it faces actual expulsion from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at the end of the winter 2023-2024 scheduling season."

"Carriers with historics at Schiphol are facing a 4 percent reduction in capacity," JetBlue wrote in a statement. "New entrants such as JetBlue are facing a completely closed market and 100 percent expulsion from the market. This is not a fair or proportional outcome despite Dutch government assurances otherwise."

JetBlue also noted that the "expulsion threat necessitates the Department's more immediate imposition of targeted and impactful countermeasures."

Those requested DOT countermeasures include requiring the Netherlands-flag carrier—KLM— serving the U.S. to file schedules, mandating reductions in Dutch carriers' scheduled services to the U.S., and a "DOT-imposed limitation on scope of grants of antitrust immunity."

"JetBlue does not suggest these countermeasures lightly," the carrier wrote in its complaint. "We simply want to ensure our two daily flights at [Schiphol] can remain," it said in a statement, which also asks the U.S. government to initiate formal talks with the Netherlands and EU to attempt to find a solution to what it referred to as "the Dutch violations." 

"If no resolution is found, then we have asked the U.S. government to take steps against Dutch carriers, including KLM, to ensure that they are treated in a similar manner to the way U.S. carriers are being treated," JetBlue said.