Statement regarding ruling of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals (Corendon vs. ACNL)

On 24 October 2017 the Amsterdam Court of Appeals has nullified the 19 May 2017 judgment of the Regional Court of Noord-Holland in preliminary relief. Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL) appealed against this 19 May judgment in a case that was initiated by Corendon Dutch Airlines B.V. (Corendon).

The 19 May judgment prohibited ACNL to base the allocation of non-historic night slots for the summer season of 2017 to Corendon on the Capacity Declaration for this season, among others because this Capacity Declaration would be in violation with the law. Corendon claimed that it should not have been determined by Royal Schiphol Group N.V.(Schiphol) but by the joint parties gathered in the OSO (Operationeel Schiphol Overleg) (Air Traffic Control, Airlines and Schiphol). The Regional Court has also ruled that Corendon could not foresee that the Capacity Declaration for the summer season of 2017 would result in less non-historic night slots than in previous seasons. The 19 May judgment of the Regional Court instructed ACNL to allocate non historic night slots to Corendon Dutch Airlines without taking into account the capacity limit of 32.000 aircraft movements in the night period that was stipulated in the Capacity Declaration for the summer season 2017.

The Amsterdam Court of Appeals now has ruled that ACNL could base its decisions with respect to the allocation of night slots on the Capacity Declaration for the summer season 2017 that was adopted by Schiphol. The Court of Appeals has accordingly nullified the 19 May judgment. The Court of Appeals also ruled that Corendon could have foreseen that the Capacity Declaration for the summer season 2017 would result in a limited number of non-historic night slots.

The ruling of the Court of Appeals confirms that the allocation of non-historic night slots by ACNL in the summer of 2017 to other parties than Corendon has taken place in a proper manner and that there was no legal basis to require ACNL to allocate more night slots to Corendon than Corendon was entitled to, according to the Capacity Declaration for summer 2017.

The full text of the ruling of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals will be published on www.rechtspraak.nl.