Schiphol more positive: Fewer flights cancelled Thursday; 3,500 cut since Jan. 2

Airlines cancelled a few dozen flights scheduled to fly to Schiphol Airport on Thursday, but only a handful of departing flights as winter weather conditions are expected to be more mild, representatives of the airport and KLM told NL Times. Since adverse weather began last Friday with strong winds, followed by four days of snowy conditions, airlines have cancelled about 3,500 scheduled flights in total.

Sixty inbound flights set for Thursday were cancelled by late Wednesday afternoon, mostly scheduled by Dutch airline KLM, the largest company operating at Schiphol. This is largely due to Wednesday's round of cancellations, as aircraft will not be in place on time, a spokesperson for the airline said.

To relieve the pressure, KLM is planning to operate larger aircraft to several destinations, including Berlin, Copenhagen, and Rome, and flew an additional Boeing 787-10 to London on Wednesday evening to transport 318 passengers to Heathrow Airport. The airline is also suspending ticket sales "to ensure as many seats as possible are available," KLM said.

"We think weather conditions will improve tomorrow, and that we won't see airlines cancelling as many flights in advance," a Schiphol spokesperson said on Wednesday when asked about what to expect the following day. "Passengers should still take delays into account," she said.

When asked how many days of calm weather would be needed for airlines to untangle the puzzling situation, she noted that the circumstances are "really exceptional," adding that it was difficult to predict. "It is day by day."

"Situation seems to be better than the last couple of days," said European air traffic center Eurocontrol in its planning for Thursday. The "situation might deteriorate though." Dutch meteorological office KNMI has the entire country on a Code Yellow weather warning for Thursday and Friday with predictions of moderate daytime temperatures that may be accompanied by freezing rain, sleet, and snow, especially early Friday morning.

"It is not yet known how many flights can be operated in the following days. This will be determined tomorrow based on the current weather situation. KLM is doing everything possible to bring as many passengers stranded at Schiphol to their destinations," KLM wrote on Wednesday.

Additionally, six of the 565 departures scheduled on Thursday at Schiphol have been cancelled by various airlines. Passengers on 30 flights set to land Thursday can also expect delays from a few minutes to a few hours, with 619 inbound flights planned.

Around a thousand passengers stuck at the airport were able to make use of cots set up in a corridor on Tuesday night, with special consideration given to layover passengers who do not have a visa to enter the Netherlands and thus have nowhere else to go. The airport will continue offering this on Wednesday, and has been handing out pillows, blankets, food, and beverages.

Thousands of flights to and from Schiphol Airport scrapped in a few days

The cancellation of over three thousand flights in less than seven days has called into question the airport's de-icing infrastructure. At the same time, just one week into January and 2026 has already delivered the highest number of snowy days per calendar year in the Netherlands since 2021.

Airlines cancelled several hundred flights on Friday, and over 700 on Saturday, due to strong winds. More than 600 flights were cancelled on Sunday, when the wind was mixed with freezing rain and snow. Some 426 flights were cut on Monday, and 614 more were dropped on Tuesday.

As of 7 p.m., airlines had put a line through 729 flights after they were asked by authorities to reduce their planned flight movements by about 70 percent. A total of 367 departures were cancelled, with 125 more delayed, while 362 arrivals were scrapped, and 113 faced various setbacks. Delays were on the rise as afternoon became evening, with intermittent snow.

KLM is the contracted party responsible for de-icing aircraft at Schiphol, using a mixture of warm water and glycol. The service has been running almost constantly since the start of the weekend, to make aircraft safe for departures. The airline said on Tuesday they nearly ran out of de-icing fluid, but managed to secure 100,000 more liters from their suppliers in Germany.