"First flight takes off from contested new runway at Amsterdam Airport"

Friday, February 14, 2003

First flight takes off from contested new runway at Amsterdam Airport
The Associated Press


THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport opened a fifth runway
Thursday, hoping the 320 million euro (US$346 million) expansion will help
it rival air hubs in London and Paris as Europe's main gateway.

Environmentalists concerned about noise pollution demonstrated near the
airport as a chartered KLM jetliner touched down carrying passengers invited
to mark the opening.

The 3.8 kilometer-long (2.4-mile) Polder runway will be fully operational by
Feb. 20 when it becomes the airport's main airstrip.

Guests on the inaugural flight included politicians, airport officials and
137 people who moved their homes to make way for the runway's construction.

Officials hope the project, completed 36 years after it was first raised,
would help Schiphol compete with London's Heathrow Airport and Paris'
Charles de Gaulle

Schiphol said the runway will reduce noise over densely populated areas and
decrease traffic over Amsterdam by 50 percent by November.

But Friends of the Earth Netherlands, an environmental group, said those
living nearby would suffer large increases in noise pollution. The runway,
it said, would further encourage the airport to violate capacity limits.

In 2002, 40.7 million passengers flew to or from Amsterdam Airport, an
increase of 3 percent from 2001.


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