Schiphol cuts fees, Air France-KLM to stay in Amsterdam

Schiphol airport is cutting its airport charges by an average of 11.6 percent from April next year, the airport announced on Friday. Air France-KLM also announced that it has no intention of leaving from Amsterdam and that Schiphol will remain its home-base. Airport charges is the fees airlines pay to use an airport. By cutting the charges, Schiphol hopes to maintain its "strong international competitiveness", NU reports. The reduction was made possible by an increased number of travelers both this year and last year, and the airport cutting costs. Schiphol did add that the airport charges will likely increase again in future. In the coming years the airport expects to make major investments in quality and capacity expansion. Earlier on Friday Air France-KLM CEO Alexandre de Juniac told the Financieele Dagblad that Schiphol will remain a hub for the airlines, responding to fears that the airlines will increasingly be operating from Paris to reduce costs. Cost cutting and higher productivity remains important for the company, but that does not mean Air France-KLM will be withdrawing from Amsterdam