Amsterdam Schiphol still in turmoil

Who would have thought that one day, the airport ofAmsterdam Schiphol would be pilloried by hordes of passengers furious at their treatment. As well as by its main customer, the airline KLM ?

Since this spring, nothing goes right for the airport. The fault lies with lack of anticipation after the covid crisis. With reduced activity during the pandemic, the number of staff in charge of security on the platform fell. And despite an upturn in the spring, they still haven't returned. The fault lies with salaries deemed insufficient and unattractive working hours.

Schiphol has just reached an agreement on pay increases and flexible working hours to attract new recruits. But it will take time to integrate these future staff.

New cap on daily passenger numbers

In the meantime, the authorities are again capping the number of passengers allowed to leave the airport. This decision must affect all flights for the 2022/2023 winter season- i.e. until the end of March. However, Schiphol will be taking stock at the end of the year. to see if it is possible to ease these restrictions at the end of January. In other words, once the peak of the winter holidays has passed.

The airport authority justifies this measure by the need to regulate flows and offer passengers a "reliable" experience as well as "predictability and stability" for airlines.

Except that this decision has obviously infuriated the carriers, because it has been taken after the IATA winter timetable has been planned. While the IATA winter timetable officially comes into force on 31 October, flight planning is generally finalised in July.

In an official statement, KLM expressed its anger. " The situation at Schiphol has demanded too many sacrifices from our customers and colleagues for too long. The restrictions recently announced by Schiphol for the winter season do not offer any perspective" wrote Marjan Rintel, CEO of KLM.

Due to restrictions, KLM forced to restrict ticket sales. According to the company, this decision ". will hopefully enable us to minimise cancellations for our customers while remaining within the limits set by Schiphol." .

A Dutch government hostile to aviation

But KLM is not out of the woods yet. The carrier is facingthe current Dutch government's open hostility towards air transport and Schiphol. Parliament is studying the possibility of reducing aircraft movements from 500,000 to 440,000 a year. According to the Dutch media outlet Financieele Dagblad ("Le Quotidien de la Finance"), this would mean abandoning around thirty lines.

KLM is now discussing with the government the possibility of speeding up the renewal of its fleet with more economical and less polluting aircraft. Rather than causing irreparable damage to the Amsterdam-Schiphol hub, which is vital to the country's economy.

Meanwhile, passengers are still queuing just to get into the terminal. While the reduction in supply means a further rise in prices.