Schiphol deploys extra staff to handle May holiday crowds

Schiphol is implementing a number of measures to help manage crowds at the airport during the upcoming May holidays. For example, the airport is deploying 20 percent more personnel than it did last year, NU.nl reports.

The airport is also introducing new CT scanners at gates, with which hand baggage can be scanned without liquids and laptops needing to be removed. These new scanners can be found at a number of security gates in departure halls 2 and 3. All scanners at security gates in these two halls will be replaced with the new ones by the end of this year. Departure hall 1 will follow next year.

Last year Schiphol also implemented measures in the run-up to the May holidays, but they were not enough to prevent massive lines and long waiting times. Dozens of people missed their flight.

One of the measures implemented for the summer holidays - giving people with little or no hand luggage priority at the security gates - will again be used this year. According to Schiphol, this measure was very successful last year. The airport also has more technicians on call to fix any technical problems quickly, and employees will visibly be deployed for "crowd management".

Schiphol expects that this combination of new and old measures will be enough to make sure the May holiday crowds are handled smoothly this year, director of operations Mirjam Hoekstra said, according to the newspaper. "But we're not making any guarantees." She points out that not everything is in Schiphol's own hands. For example, passport controls are in the hands of the Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military.

A total of 5.2 million passengers are expected to travel through Schiphol during the three weeks of the May holidays. That is 7 to 8 percent more than last year, and about the same number of passengers Eindhoven Airport sees in a year. May 4th is expected to be the busiest day, with 226 thousand passengers crossing Schiphol's floors.