Travel industry furious with Schiphol CEO: ‘He is trying to sweep his street clean’ | Interior

Sunday said in an interview with Friday The Financial Times that the handling companies, which are hired by the airlines and therefore not by Schiphol itself, are still short of hundreds of people. According to him, if they do not solve that problem within a few weeks, the airport will have to intervene again.

“It cannot be the case that we are now going to blame each other,” said an ANVR spokeswoman. “It seems that Schiphol is now throwing it at the handlers to say later: we have everything in order.” She thinks this ‘slide-off policy’ is ‘not fair to the travellers’. It would only confuse them. Last year there was already a lot of chaos at Schiphol with long queues, cancellations and passengers missing their flights.

The tone of Sondag’s new ultimatum to the handling companies and airlines differs sharply from the message the Schiphol boss delivered last month. In mid-January, he said that the limit on the number of travelers who can depart from the airport daily will expire after March. “That May holiday, we’re just going to do it”, Sondag was still confident at the time.

“That was only a few weeks ago,” emphasizes the ANVR spokeswoman, to which large travel groups such as TUI, Sunweb and Corendon are affiliated. The travel industry is in almost continuous contact with Schiphol on this subject. In those conversations, the ANVR will also express its opinion on Sondag’s new statements. Just like last year, having all flights canceled is not an option for the travel organizations for the coming holiday periods. “Not after all the plans that have been made, all the promises and all the hard words from Schiphol itself.”