Amsterdam Airport to reduce passenger numbers by March 2023
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport will maintain a reduction in the number of passengers who can board each day from the Netherlands until at least the end of March next year due to a shortage of security personnel, which has been causing problems at the airfield since last April.
In a statement, the airport said Thursday that it will “maintain the maximum number of passengers who can leave the airport, in consultation with the airlines,” which themselves “need longer-term planning” to avoid having to deal with the consequences of the chaos of recent months, with last-minute cancellations due to lack of staff at the airport.
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The airfield, which will force the cancellation of thousands of flights until March, promises to do a review later this year to see “if it is possible to do anything else from the end of January”, and assures that it has taken this measure to give travelers more “reliability” and to offer airlines “predictability and stability”.
“We want to ensure the safety of employees and travelers and offer a more reliable airport process. This naturally has consequences for travelers and airlines, which we find annoying. We are working with the security companies and the unions on structural improvements. That is a big task in a very tight labor market. We have to be realistic,” said COO Hanne Buis.
The airport assures that it is negotiating with unions and security companies “better shifts, improved rest areas and better wages for employees”.
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In the middle of this month, Schiphol already announced that it will welcome an average of 9,250 fewer passengers per day, a reduction of 18%, until next October 31, due to the lack of security personnel. The airfield applies the rule of a maximum of 54,500 passengers per day for September and 57,000 for October.
Two weeks ago, Schiphol’s CEO Dick Benschop resigned due to criticism of the way in which the problems of understaffing have been addressed since the lifting of restrictions during the pandemic, EFE reported.
“I don’t want the attention for me to become a hindrance to Schiphol,” said Benschop, whose responsibility as a senior group executive has been constantly stressed since the problems began in April.
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