AMSTERDAM U.S. authorities are very likely to retaliate against the Dutch government's decision to cut flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, probably limiting slots for Dutch airline KLM at U.S. airports, International Air Transport Association (IATA) head Willie Walsh said on Tuesday.

"This decision is significantly more damaging than people have estimated," Walsh said at an IATA conference in Amsterdam. "It will mostly affect KLM, tearing apart the fabric of their network."

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and David Goodman)