The government’s plan to allow slightly more take-offs and landings at Schiphol airport have again been thrown into doubt, this time by MPs.

A majority of parliamentarians on Thursday voted in favour of a motion to stick at a lower total than infrastructure minister Barry Madlener announced at the beginning of this month

Madlener’s limit of 478,000 aircraft movements would cut noise problems for locals by 15%, but the previous government’s plan would have led to an average 17% reduction. Coalition party NSC was among those voting against the minister.

Madlener says the limit of 466,000 – just 12,000 fewer than his own proposal – is unacceptable because of the likely impact on the economy. The suggestion has also been slammed by the aviation industry.

Any flight reduction plan first has to be approved by the European Commission before it can be implemented. Brussels rules state that a reduction in the number of flights can only be introduced as a last resort.

Meanwhile, the Financieele Dagblad reports that the Schiphol airport authority wants to build a new terminal to deal with an expected increase in passenger numbers, despite the rise in landing fees.

“We are currently squashing nearly 70 million passengers into the building but it has not been expanded since we were on 42 million,” airport president Pieter van Oord told the paper. “In terms of square metres, we are the smallest airport in Europe.”

The expansion plan, which comes as the debate about flight numbers continues, is needed because bigger aircraft means more people, Van Oord said.

Several potential locations close to the current terminal are under consideration and the budget, including maintenance and repairs to its existing facilities, is put at €6 billion.