Schiphol cuts 14,500 flights as permanent contraction begins

Schiphol cut 14,500 flight movements, slot coordinator Hugo Thomassen told De Telegraaf. These are flight slots that have become available but will not be redistributed to the airlines.

The Cabinet wants to reduce the flight movements at Schiphol from 500,000 per year to 440,000 per year. The goal was to do this by the end of this year, but as it has to follow an EU procedure, that target will likely not be reached, State Secretary Mark Harbers (Infrastructure) informed parliament late last year.

Despite the EU procedure still being in process, Schiphol is already making cuts to its flight movements, according to the newspaper. The airport will decide later this week whether it will cut even more flight movements in the coming months. Sources told the Telegraaf that the airport aims to cut 40,000 flight movements this year.

A spokesperson for Schiphol told the Telegraaf that the 14,500 cut to flight movements is separate from the Cabinet’s plans to shrink the airport. “Schiphol has decided to release slots in phases in the context of a controlled recovery after the coronavirus,” the spokesperson said.

The chaos at the airport last summer showed that Schiphol was allowing more flights than its staff could handle. Travelers regularly queued for hours in front of security checks due to a shortage of airport security. And staff shortages in baggage handlers resulted in thousands of suitcases only reaching their destinations long after their owners did.