Responding to pleas for intervention from U.S. airlines, the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has found the Dutch government’s flight cuts at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) are anticompetitive and in violation of the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement.

The department stopped short of imposing countermeasures, though it is requiring Dutch carriers to file schedules for services to the U.S. It is the first move DOT has taken under its authority after communicating its concerns to the Dutch government regarding its “Experimental Regulation” for noise reduction at the airport.

DOT on Nov. 2 said KLM, cargo carrier Martinair, and TUI fly would need to file those schedules within seven days of the order in the latest development contesting the Dutch government’s plans to limit annual aircraft movements to 452,500 annually by November 2024.

Dutch airport slot coordinator ANCL confirmed JetBlue Airways, which launched daily flights from New York JFK and Boston to Schiphol in the third quarter (Q3) does not have historic slots at the airport and would not receive slots for the IATA 2024 summer season.

Under the first stage of the plan for flight cuts at Schiphol, 84 airlines holding historic rights at the airport will need to reduce their portfolio by 3.1%. It represents a total reduction of 9,070 slots, 252 of which will come from Delta Air Lines. According to ACNL, American Airlines will have 22 fewer slots at Schiphol next summer, United Airlines 53, and KLM 4,847.

Industry trade group Airlines For America (A4A) and JetBlue have been vocal in urging the DOT to address actions by the Dutch government.

“The Department finds that, because the Netherlands has failed to follow the Balanced Approach, the Phase 1 capacity reduction measures being undertaken at Schiphol constitute unjustifiable and unreasonable activities under IATFCPA (International Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act) and are in violation of the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement,” DOT said in a filing.

The Balanced Approach is a set of principles adopted by governments globally via the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly in 2001. Its four principles are a reduction of noise at the source; better land use and planning; improved noise abatement operational procedures; and operational restrictions.

The DOT also said it remains concerned that the actions taken by the Netherlands’ Government to “effectively preclude opportunities for new entrant carriers to operate at AMS [Schiphol],” noting it was particularly alarming that JetBlue, a relative new entrant at the airport, has been notified it will not receive slots for the Summer 2024 season.

Against that backdrop, DOT concluded the implementation of the Phase 1 noise reduction at Schiphol, “constitutes an unjustifiable and unreasonable discriminatory practice.”

For now, DOT is only exercising the authority the department holds to require Dutch carriers to file schedules within seven days, adding “we will defer for now a decision on further countermeasures, including those proposed by JetBlue.”

New York-based JetBlue argued the DOT should impose schedule filing requirements and use the schedule information to mandate a reduction in Dutch carriers’ proposed scheduled service to the U.S. JetBlue also said the department should “impose limited of scope on grants of antitrust immunity, carving out U.S.-AMS markets until the Dutch government restores the predicate necessary for antitrust immunity.”

DOT said it will further engage with the Dutch Government and European Commission in consultations on Nov. 13.

Though a Dutch court initially ruled against the government plan in April, an Amsterdam appeals court overturned that ruling in July, calling the cuts “a temporary approach to a complex problem.” IATA and a coalition of associations and airlines including Delta, JetBlue, KLM and United are awaiting a ruling from cassation proceedings they initiated, challenging the appeals court ruling.