This is the information revealed every week by the Eurocontrol agency. For several weeks now, Amsterdam Schiphol is the airport with the highest number of aircraft movements in Europe.
On Wednesday 26 August, the Dutch hub recorded 772 aircraft movements, up 2% on the week of 12 August. This puts Amsterdam just ahead of Paris CDG (755 departures and arrivals). The hub also outstrips Frankfurt (565 movements) and London-Heathrow (407 movements).
Eurocontrol reports that Amsterdam traffic is still 50% below the same week in August 2019.. However, this performance is slightly better than that of Roissy-CDG (-52%) but much better than that of Frankfurt (-63%) or London-Heathrow (-70%).
KLM connects seven French cities to Amsterdam
Amsterdam's relatively good performance is due to the dynamism of its national carrier KLM but also to the hub's central geographical position in Europe. Amsterdam is once again linked to 170 destinations by 45 airlines.
KLM takes the lion's share of this figure. The carrier connects its Schiphol hub to 127 destinations worldwide (figure as at 28/08/2020).
Since July, KLM has resumed its intercontinental services to Cairo (temporarily until the end of October), Shanghai and this week to Hangzhou in China. In September, the airline will resume services to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong via Bangkok, Taipei and Riyadh via Damman.
It is also the European airline with one of the densest networks to Latin America and the Caribbean, despite the pandemic. Twelve cities in this part of the world are linked to Amsterdam.
KLM reconnects 88 European cities to Schiphol, including 35 destinations served by at least three daily flights. The carrier recently resumed services to Southampton and Durham/Teeside in the UK and will return to Poznan in Poland in October.
In France, KLM is the foreign full-service airline with the largest number of routes. The carrier offers at least three daily rotations from Amsterdam to Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice, Paris-CDG and Toulouse. KLM also serves Montpellier (one flight a day) and Mulhouse/Basle (two flights a day).
To attract passengers to Amsterdam, Schiphol airport has stepped up measures to make the journey easier for its passengers.
More services for the well-being of travellers at Schiphol
Among the measures implemented, the airport is proposing a system of voluntary covid-19 tests at Schiphol. An infrastructure called "Test Street¨ has been set up for travellers coming from high-risk areas and for a limited number of flights.
Located between arrivals halls 3 and 4, this voluntary test centre can handle up to a thousand passengers a day. Test results are communicated within 48 hours, requiring a quarantine of at least two days.
The airport authority is advocating a system in which rapid tests are carried out on travellers to and from countries placed in the orange or red zones. This could reduce the need for travel bans and quarantine measures.
Schiphol also offers two other services to passengers. The airport has set up three areas where travellers can disinfect their personal belongings under UV-C lightThese include mobile phones, passports and keys. The three disinfection points are located in the Schiphol Plaza area, in lounge 2 and between arrivals halls 3 and 4.
Finally, for short transfer passengers, Schiphol launches the Short Connection Pass. Self-service units have been installed at the piers most frequented by transfer passengers.
Passengers scan their boarding pass. After analysing the transit time, the machine prints out a "Short Connection Pass". The passenger can then proceed to a dedicated line at the security checkpoints.
In the first six months of 2020, Amsterdam Schiphol airport recorded a 62.1% drop in passenger numbers. This represents 13.1 million passengers, compared with 34.5 million for the same period in 2019.
