Schiphol fears long security lines during peak travel season

Schiphol CEO Jos Nijhuis is concerned about potentially hour-long queues at passport and security checks in the airport during the peak travel season, which starts end April, he said in an interview with Dutch newspaper the Telegraaf. He is especially concerned about the non-Schengen area in the airport, where travelers have to have their passports checked. "If that does not flow properly, it also creates line in front of the central security lanes. Travelers changing flights will also be inconvenienced by this.", he said to the newspaper. Nijhuis does not even want to think about what could happen if politicians decide to close the Schengen area in response to the refugee crisis. According to him, that would be disastrous for the flow of travelers in the airport. Nijhuis partly blames the problems on the Ministry of Security and Justice for not deploying enough Marechaussee officers to the airport. "Despite our urging at the Ministry of Security and the marechaussee, there is still no solutions to the staff shortages and failing gates for automated passport scanning" he said. The Koninklijke Marechaussee is a policing branch of the military that is responsible for security at airports and patrolling the Dutch borders, among other things. The Schiphol CEO thinks that perhaps the government should give some of the Marechaussee's task over to other policing forces. "Perhaps the increased threat of terrorism can be partially transferred to other police or armed forces." A spokesperson for the Ministry told the newspaper that they are discussing the problems with Schiphol and the marechaussee.