Schiphol will remain crowded despite new departure hall opening Wednesday: CEO

With the opening of a new, temporary departure hall on Wednesday, Schiphol hopes to avoid chaos with the ever increasing number of passengers this summer. But despite this measure, the airport will remain crowded, CEO Jos Nijhuis warned. The number of passengers is growing rapidly and Schiphol is actually ill-equipped to handle it, he said to NOS.

"The growth in passenger numbers is solid and it will be very busy this summer", Nijhuis said to the broadcaster. In the first two months of 2017 the number of passengers traveling through the airport increased by 8.5 percent to nearly 9 million passengers. "But by opening the new temporary departure hall we hope to create some breathing room."

The temporary departure hall will be used for flights to 26 European countries within the Schengen area. Airlines KLM, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and LOT Polish Airlines will make use of the new departure hall.

The Schiphol CEO calls on passengers to do what they can to make the passage through the airport as swift as possible. "I hope that passengers make as much use as possible of the technological possibilities to ensure a smooth flow. Think of the automated passport control."

Nijhuis also wants more Koninklijke Marechaussee officers deployed at the airport. The Koninklijke Marechaussee is a policing force that works as part of the Dutch armed forces and is responsible for airport and border security. "I think we need about 400 to 500 people extra. This is really long overdue. I hope we get extra effort from The Hague." Nijhuis said to NOS.