16.6 million people traveled through Dutch airports in first quarter

In the past quarter, 16.6 million passengers traveled by plane to and from the five airports in the Netherlands. That is over 2 percent more than in the same period last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. The increase is due to Schiphol and Rotterdam The Hague Airport. The number of people who flew via Maastricht Aachen Airport almost halved.

In the months of January to March, Schiphol processed 14.8 million passengers, almost 3 percent more than in the same period a year earlier. The largest airport in the country was, therefore, responsible for processing more than 89 percent of all air passengers to and from our country. The number of people who traveled by plane to and from Rotterdam The Hague Airport increased by 2.5 percent.

The other three airports - Eindhoven Airport, Groningen Airport Eelde, and Maastricht Aachen Airport - processed fewer passengers at the beginning of this year. The number of passengers to and from Maastricht showed a particularly strong decrease of no less than 47 percent, according to CBS. The statistics agency attributed the decline to a sharp decrease in the number of winter destinations that could be reached from this airport. 2.8 percent and 1.7 percent fewer people flew via Eindhoven and Eelde, respectively.

CBS also reported that the amount of air freight fell by over 8 percent in the first quarter to 352,000 tons. Of this, 345,000 tons were handled via Amsterdam, the rest via Maastricht. Most goods were transported to and from China, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates, approximately 44 percent of the total.