KLM warns of more "uncertainty" at Schiphol; Winter cancellations hit 300,000 people

Dutch airline KLM issued a new warning to its customers on Friday afternoon, saying that it was difficult to predict how Storm Goretti will develop, and the impact it will have on the ability to fly to and from Amsterdam the coming days. The largest airline operating at Schiphol Airport confirmed that an estimated 300,000 ticketed passengers were inconvenienced by the airline having cancelled hundreds of flights since Jan. 2.

"Due to the ongoing weather conditions, the situation remains uncertain. We ask passengers to keep a close eye on their email and apps for updates," the airline wrote in a statement. Storm Goretti was expected to bring strong wind, snow, and freezing rain later in the day, and both daytime and overnight temperatures are likely to remain below freezing through Sunday and into Monday morning, meteorological office KNMI cautioned.

KLM cancelled several dozen flights on Friday, and other airlines also warned of setbacks during the first half of the day. By the start of the afternoon, airlines had cancelled 54 departures, with 144 more delayed, out of 563 take-offs scheduled for the day in total. Another 38 inbound flights were cancelled, 82 others were delayed, with 568 scheduled arrivals on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of people ticketed to fly on KLM aircraft the past seven days were inconvenienced by the airline having canceled hundreds of flights since Jan. 2. The Dutch carrier is still trying to get caught up after stormy weather, followed by four straight days of snow, caused airlines to cancel over 3,500 flights to and from Schiphol Airport.

"Our snow fleet is operating non-stop to keep the landing area clear of snow and ice, airlines are ensuring aircraft are de-iced for safe flying, and in the terminal, we and our partners are working together to assist passengers as best we can," Schiphol Airport wrote in a brief statement. "We advise travelers to carefully monitor flight information before leaving home for Schiphol."

KLM did manage to get an additional jumbo jet flight filled with passengers to London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday evening. The following day, larger aircraft were used on more European routes to improve capacity between Schiphol Airport and Berlin, Copenhagen, and Rome. "We're deploying an extra-large aircraft to Stockholm and are still rerouting passengers via other airports to keep as many available seats as possible at Schiphol free for rebooking," KLM said.

In the meantime, Schiphol, air traffic controllers, and airlines were working to get aircraft in and out of Amsterdam before snow predicted for northern Germany and Austria moves towards the Netherlands. "During the evening, this area will extend into Benelux and the remaining regions of Germany and [eastern] France bringing local snowfall," according to European air traffic center Eurocontrol.

"Today, we're doing everything we can to get our passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible. Since the start of the extreme winter weather, some 300,000 travelers have been unable to continue their journeys as planned," KLM wrote in an update on Friday. "Most passengers have now been rebooked, and yesterday we transported more than 100,000 people. We expect to be able to assist many travelers again today."

KLM CEO Marjan Lintel expressed her desire to improve communications with passengers not only in the future, but also over the coming days. “I understand that frustration,” Rintel said during a televised interview on Thursday. “What we’re seeing is that people at Schiphol also need much more information than what’s in the app, what you get in email, or what you can find on your phone,” she said.

“The problem, of course, is when you have to rebook 300,000 people and 70 percent of your flights are canceled because there is no capacity at the airport to fly, it’s very difficult to say, 'You’re going tomorrow,' because tomorrow your flight might be canceled again,” she continued.

“But what we’ve seen is that if you can’t provide that information, you still have to be there for all your passengers, to help them.”