Russia airline given more space at Schiphol after threats to close airspace: report

The government is giving Russian cargo airline AirBridgeCargo (ABC) more takeoff and landing times at Schiphol after Russia threatened to closed its airspace to Dutch planes, NRC reports.

Slot coordinator at Schiphol, Caroline Ditvoorst, told NRC that she is worried this is setting a bad example, and that other countries will now also try to extort the Netherlands into giving them more room at the airport.

ABC recently lost landing rights at the Amsterdam airport. In response, Russia threatened to close its airspace to KLM. That doesn't only make destinations in Russia unavailable to the Dutch airline, but also puts destinations in the far East at risk.

According to the newspaper, it is expected that KLM will transfer some of its slots to ABC.

Both the Schiphol directors and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment refused to respond to NU.nl about this matter.