JetBlue asked the US Department of Transportation to ban the Dutch airline KLM from the international airport John F. Kennedy due to a controversial flight cap in the Netherlands.
The Dutch government plans to limit the number of flights next year to Amsterdam-Schiphol. JetBlue asserts that the flight cap would violate the air transport agreement between the United States and the European Union (EU) and that the ban would be a “proportional countermeasure”. Several airlines, including KLM And Deltaopposed the plan to limit Schiphol to only 452,500 flights per year by next winter instead of half a million. The Dutch government has also decided to ban private jets and night flights in a bid to reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution.
JetBlue is still relatively new to Amsterdam-Schiphol, since it launched its first link in August this year. The New York-based carrier believes it will become virtually impossible to find additional slots at Schiphol.
JetBlue is currently in the midst of a massive expansion in a bid to challenge the three major established U.S. carriers. The airline is still trying to finalize the purchase of Spirit Airlines, which is also under scrutiny from the U.S. government. Being deported to Schiphol would be a huge setback. It is highly unlikely that the US DOT would consider banning KLM from JFK outright as a response.
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