Gerrit Zalm's Case Study Of Schiphol And The Dutch State

In 2006 and 2007, the minister of Finance, Gerrit Zalm wanted to sell Schiphol’s shares owned by the Dutch State. According to Zalm, it would create financial possibilities, Schiphol’s management would become more efficient and government interference is no longer necessary for Schiphol. Furthermore, around this time, there was a trend in privatising airports, so in order to compete with these airports, Gerrit Zalm said that Schiphol should become independent as well. KLM-Air France did not agree and were against the idea of privatisation, along with other airlines. They believed that if Schiphol was not restricted closely by the government anymore, they would keep their prices up artificially. The municipality of Amsterdam was also against Zalm’s ideas. They used their veto to stop the privatisation after the government rejected an offer of the
Amsterdam has a huge interest in Schiphol. Schiphol is located in the Amsterdam area and Amsterdam advances and suffers from this. Negative effects include noise nuisance and the environmental issues. On the other hand, Schiphol serves the local community through employment and consumers.
A recent research showed that 20% of the employers that work in the Schiphol area originate from Amsterdam and these numbers are increasing every year. This is caused by the arrival of multinationals in the area and the attractions for the business sector to settle around Schiphol. This is beneficial for Amsterdam: the city becomes an appealing place for business facilities and trade centres. Many of these companies depend on Schiphol: as long as Schiphol keeps on growing, these companies will too and they will stay in the Amsterdam area. Amsterdam is in twelfth place on the ranking of most important metropolitans, this has to do with the connection with the Schiphol airport. The multinationals are easy accessible as long as they stay close to