Amsterdam’s Ghost Airport Grounded by Growth-Climate Clash
- Rutte’s coalition faces strains amid backlash over new airport
- Lelystad project to allow Schiphol hub to continue to grow
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From its colonial trading days to reclaiming land from the sea, the Netherlands has a tradition of pushing the limits, but a public backlash over a planned airport suggests that many Dutch have had enough.
With the opening of a second Amsterdam hub delayed by 20 months and counting, political fronts are hardening ahead of a crucial environmental-impact report expected in January. At the center of the dispute is whether the project is justifiable for a country of 17 million people, which already has some of the most intense land use in the world.