Schiphol flies high on CNN’s list of problematic airports

Schiphol Airport twice landed in the top ten when American news channel CNN ranked problematic airports using different criteria. When it comes to the most delays this summer, Schiphol wound up in fourth place. In addition, the Dutch airport is among the major airports with the most cancellations relative to the number of flight movements there.

The lists looked at FlightAware data since the end of May. Since then, 41.5% of flights at Schiphol have been delayed. The percentage was even higher at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, and Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to the list. In fact, more than half of the flights were delayed at the latter airport.

When it comes to cancellations, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in China took the dubious honor of the top spot. According to CNN, 7.9 percent of flights there were canceled. The list included several airports in China and the United States, as well as one in Indonesia, one in Canada and one in Australia. Schiphol wound up in tenth place with 3.9 percent of flights scrapped.

Schiphol has been struggling with many problems lately mainly due to staff shortages at security checkpoints and baggage handling. The airport has been unable to handle the summer crowds as passengers quickly resumed travel when coronavirus restrictions largely disappeared. The Amsterdam area airport then announced several measures to try and limit the crowds. That resulted in airlines having to cancel many flights, or move them to other regional airports during the 2022 summer holiday season.

Schiphol is not the only aviation organization suffering from problems, as it has been tense with many aspects of air travel this summer. Now that the demand for travel is picking up again, many airports and airlines are struggling with staff shortages. It has also been chaotic at other airports, and labor strikes are taking place in the sector with more regularity.

This weekend, for example, Belgian pilots from Ryanair will stop working. American Airlines also announced Friday that it will cancel 1,175 flights in July and August. The American carrier made the announcement in the hope of ensuring that there will be fewer disruptions to those flights which are expected to go ahead as planned.