New Airspace Configuration: More Room to Work on Combat Readiness

The Defence has a larger contiguous training area needed to train with the F-35 fighter jets. This strengthens the Air Forces combat power and deterrence and ensures it is ready for deployment. However, a smarter and better configuration of the airspace is necessary. The plans for this were sent to the House by the cabinet today.

Civil aviation is part of the airspace review. Civilian aircraft will fly shorter routes in certain areas in the future. The reconfiguration will also reduce emissions of harmful substances and noise near civil airports over time.

Currently, fighter jets train in the south, east, and north of the country. The last part bordering the sea is being expanded to provide more space for the aircraft. The average flight altitude is about 6 kilometers during exercises, of which more than 80% takes place over the sea. The areas in the south and east are too small for these activities. They will therefore be discontinued for daily use.

More space is needed to ensure that the armed forces are combat-ready. The urgency is high due to changing geopolitical circumstances and a further deteriorating security situation. The new configuration of the airspace has another advantage. The Air Force can therefore cooperate across borders with neighboring countries during, for example, large NATO exercises.

Simultaneously with the expansion of the training area, the configuration of civil airspace is being modernized. For civil aviation, the principle is to fly as short as possible. Because the military training areas in the south and east will no longer be used, civil aviation will not have to fly around them anymore.

With the new configuration, aircraft will be able to approach civil airports from greater heights in the future, and descend continuously instead of stepwise. This leads to less noise on the ground and reduced emissions of CO₂ and nitrogen near those airports.

Implementation of the plans for the new airspace configuration is scheduled for the period 2028 to 2030. Between 2027 and 2035, projects will be gradually initiated to allow civil aircraft to descend continuously from greater heights. To allow the aviation sector to gain experience in this, a training program will start this year on a runway at Schiphol.

Reconfiguring the Dutch airspace is complex. Changes are strongly interconnected, as one change often leads to further adjustments. This also applies in an international context. The airspace structure of the Netherlands is not independent; it is strongly connected to the airspace of neighboring countries. Additionally, it is also linked to the European and international civil route network.

The plans for the new configuration have been developed in close cooperation with Germany and the European Network Manager (Eurocontrol).