More passengers, money flow through Schiphol

Schiphol airport reports a healthy growth in the number of passengers traveling through the airport. In the first half of this year, there was a four percent growth compared to the same period last year, with 25.7 million people coming through the airport. The company further reports that costs are seeing limited growth, meaning that there is room to lower costs. Schiphol says that tariffs may go down with five percent from the 1st of April next year. For companies, it will become cheaper to fly to and from Schiphol. Flights in and out of the airport rose with 2.6 percent to 209,800 in this period. The airport does say that shops are under some pressure as passengers have been spending a little less than they did last year. Purchases at the shops behind passport control dropped from an average of €16.23 to €14.79. People have, however, been doing more parking at the airport. Overall, profits of Schiphol Group rose with 15 percent to €127 million. This money will go to shareholders, which include the national government, the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and Aéroports de Paris. Schiphol writes that more growth will come out of the phased development of Lelystad Airport. A masterplan for this has been set up, and an airport decision has been requested. To continue Schiphol's position as international competitor, Jos Nijhuis, president director of Schiphol Group, says that the airport invests around €1.5 million per day on maintaining quality at the airport.