The independent research agency CE Delft concludes that there is no scientific evidence to support the view that the growth of Schiphol will damage the Dutch economy and the business climate. There is also no damage if there is a limited shrinkage of aviation. The environment would benefit from such shrinkage or less growth in aviation, the researchers say.

The report tests the most commonly used arguments before Schiphol's growth. For example, Schiphol would be of enormous importance for the business climate, the airport would have “great economic added value” and it would become “insignificant” if it could not grow.

The researchers conclude that there is not enough convincing evidence for any of these statements. However, there seems to be a connection between the number of head offices near an airport and the number of flights it processes. CE Delft has the side note that it is not certain whether this is due to the number of flights. After all, it can also be the other way around; then flights are added because there are many head offices.

Moreover, according to the researchers it is too simplistic to hold only the airport responsible for the business climate; after all, there are many more factors that make a company decide to settle in the Netherlands.

According to CE Delft, the economic importance of the airport is often overestimated. Aviation would, according to the researchers, generate around 5,8 billion euros in the Netherlands, while estimates range from 9 to even more than 20 billion euros. There is also little attention for the negative effects that Schiphol has on the environment, such as noise nuisance and environmental pollution. In addition, the expenditure of tourists who come to the Netherlands is often mentioned as an advantage - they spend about 13,9 billion euros here - but the money spent by the Dutch abroad (14,3 billion euros) is not included.

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