Fewer travelers will be able to use Amsterdam Airport Schiphol this summer. The Dutch airport sets itself a maximum number of travelers per day. In July that amounts to about 67,500 travelers and in August 72,500. To achieve that, flights must be canceled, it was announced today
The airport slot coordinator will consult with the various airlines to achieve the numbers. In July, according to Schiphol, there are about 13,500 seats too many every day if all aircraft are completely full. The numbers for August will be determined later.
Schiphol is taking the step to prevent “unmanageable queues”, it sounds. As a result, many travelers would miss their flight, which could lead to unsafe situations. There are staff shortages at the airport, especially at security. As a result, queues have formed outside the departure hall in recent weeks.
During the corona period, the travel world was almost completely at a standstill, but it is now recovering faster than expected. Schiphol says it has taken into account a more than doubling of the number of passengers: from 25.5 million in 2021 to 60 million this year. But on the busiest days of the past May holiday and also next summer, more travelers come than expected in that scenario.
Still, CEO Dick Benschop is not thinking about resigning, he said at a press conference. Benschop sees it “as his big task to tackle things. And I feel supported in that too.”
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With the current information we have received from Schiphol, it is expected that it will not be necessary to cancel existing bookings on a large scale.
Airline KLM holds Schiphol responsible for the financial impact of the measures, she responded. “With the current information that we have received from Schiphol, it is expected that it will not be necessary to cancel existing bookings on a large scale,” KLM said.
The airline believes that the forced cancellation of seats should be “one-off and short-lived” and is highly undesirable. “It cannot be the case that the users of the airport are structurally responsible for Schiphol’s capacity problems,” said KLM.
Competitor Transavia will sell considerably fewer seats this summer with departures from Amsterdam. The company also expects to have to make cancellations. “Our passengers want clarity. To avoid disappointment as much as possible, we are therefore inhibiting the sale of tickets for the summer,” it sounds.
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