The Dutch government will impose a no-fly zone over The Hague during the NATO summit on June 24-25, along with other security measures affecting most modes of transport.
The flight ban will go into effect on June 23 and will cover a 16-kilometer radius around the city, where “no air traffic will be allowed at all, except for safety purposes and medical emergencies,” Dutch authorities said Tuesday.
The meeting will be attended by around 45 heads of state and government, including U.S. President Donald Trump and many European leaders, as well as some 90 foreign and defense ministers.
Some 8,500 people are expected to attend — including 6,000 government officials, 2,000 journalists and 500 participants in a NATO Public Forum on the sidelines of the summit.
The combined effect of airspace restrictions and the use of an entire runway for state flights will reduce the capacity of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport by 10 percent during the summit.
Restrictions at sea will also apply in a zone out to more than 22 kilometers off the coast near The Hague, with limited access guaranteed to authorized fishermen and tour boats during the three days before the NATO summit, and a complete closure to shipping between 3 p.m. on June 23 and midnight on June 25.
Softer flight restrictions will apply to the area outside the no-fly zone and within a 93-kilometer radius of the summit site, where only large commercial airliners will be allowed to fly if they have a permit.
Measures such as no-fly zones and shipping bans are not uncommon when many world leaders gather in the same place, as was the case on April 26 for the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican City, which was attended by 170 state delegations.
The NATO meeting is the largest summit ever held in the country, according to Dutch authorities.
It will be the first NATO summit since former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took over as the transatlantic military alliance’s secretary-general following the departure of his predecessor, Jens Stoltenberg.
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