Decidedly, theAmsterdam Schiphol airport has struggled to get back on track since the Covid period. Air France-KLM's second intercontinental hub, Western Europe's third busiest airport with 52.5 million passengerswent through a dark year in 2022 due to platform management problems. Understaffing on the platform has had a major impact on the company's results. damaged the image of Amsterdam Schiphol. The Dutch airport made the headlines for several weeks with its endless queues lasting several hours to gain access to the terminal.
A situation readily acknowledged by Ruud Sondag, CEO of Royal Schiphol Groupowner of Amsterdam airport. " Never in the history of Schiphol have we disappointed so many passengers and airlines as we did in 2022. Our efforts failed to make the necessary improvements to the system and, as a result, we were unable to provide the service we wanted. So 2022 will go down as a bad chapter in our own history books. But it's also a chapter we won't forget, so that all the new chapters we write will be better ones. We are working hard on this, and in 2022 we began to implement structural improvements." he explained when presenting the Group's results.
5% fewer passengers from April to May
As a result, Schiphol is preparing for the expected increase in traffic during the school holidays in April and May. From 1 April until 14 May, the airport is asking airlines to reduce the maximum number of passengers by 5 %. This would correspond to approximately 5,000 fewer passengers per day. " Schiphol believes that a reduction of 5 % in the morning peak is necessary to reduce the risk of unacceptable delays for passengers at check-in, security and passport control." the airport confirmed in a press release.
This should result in a reduction in the number of seats offered for sale, by consolidating or cancelling certain flights. With a likely rise in tariffs in the backgroundwith supply outstripping demand. Peak hours - between 6am and 1pm - should logically be the worst affected.
Schiphol is nevertheless forecasting an increase in passenger traffic. The airport is expecting 66,000 passengers a day in May at peak times, compared with 58,000 last year.. This is still a far cry from the 72,000 passengers that the airport handled in 2019. But back then, there were more staff...
