The number of passengers flying through Dutch airports reached pre-coronavirus levels for the first time at the beginning of this year. In the first three months of 2023, more than 14 million passengers traveled to and from abroad via Schiphol, Eindhoven Airport, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport; an increase of 40 percent compared to the first quarter of last year. The number of travelers is therefore back to the level of the end of 2019 for the first time, before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. That turns out Thursday from research of Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
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Of the more than 14 million passengers, the majority – 12.3 million – flew via Schiphol in the first quarter. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 38 percent, but a decrease of 21 percent compared to the first three months of 2019. Nevertheless, after the pandemic, which restricted international air traffic, Schiphol was mainly in the news with reports about long and chaotic queues, canceled and rescheduled flights and many other moments of unmanageable crowds, caused, among other things, by staff shortages. In September, the criticized Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop resigned.
The other major airports in the Netherlands, Eindhoven Airport, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport, all three correctly processed more travelers compared to the first quarter of 2019. Maastricht airport even welcomed twice as many travelers. Despite the increased crowds, the average occupancy rate in aircraft to and from the five airports was around 76 percent, while 78 percent of the seats were filled with travelers before the corona pandemic. During the pandemic, the percentage dropped to 35 percent.