Air traffic control contact requirement for drones to be partly lifted around five civilian airports

The requirement to contact air traffic control before drone flights will be scaled back around Schiphol, Rotterdam, Groningen, Maastricht and Lelystad from 26 November 2026. In certain areas, drone pilots will no longer have to contact air traffic control before their flight. Rijksoverheid announced this on 24 September. The change does not apply to all the airspace around these airports. [1]

The contact requirement currently applies in the Control Zone (CTR), the air traffic control area around an airport. The government broadly describes this as an area with a radius of approximately 15 kilometres; the precise boundaries vary by airport.

According to Rijksoverheid, prior contact is not necessary everywhere: further from the airport, departing and arriving crewed aircraft fly higher, while drones can stay close to the ground. The government states that the current contact requirement places a burden on air traffic control and restricts useful drone flights. It cites inspections of dykes and other critical infrastructure as an example.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland developed the new rules. According to Rijksoverheid, the zones concerned were carefully selected and assessed as safe. The announcement does not include an underlying safety analysis. [1]

Nothing will change for military airports. Existing restricted zones, for example around helicopter landing sites and critical facilities, will also remain in force, both within and outside the areas covered by the new division of airspace. Lifting the contact requirement therefore does not constitute general permission to fly a drone there.