Schiphol to face "high delays" over snow removal & de-icing, but KLM hopeful

Persistent snowfall and strong winds from Storm Goretti are expected to cause problems for passengers flying to and from Schiphol Airport on Saturday, according to European air traffic monitor Eurocontrol. Despite the prospect of delays continuing throughout the day, Dutch airline KLM said on Friday it will not pre-emptively cancel more flights on Saturday. KLM earlier announced more than two dozen of its scheduled flights to Amsterdam will be scrapped.

Weather conditions, including snow, will be "the dominating factor" affecting major airports in the Netherlands, as well as Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In Amsterdam, this means, "High delays for arrivals as from the morning due to snow removal and aircraft de-icing," Eurocontrol wrote in its initial plan for the Saturday.

The region can expect "persistent light snow" and "strong winds" in the morning, which should gradually dissipate. The organization also expects sub-zero temperatures to remain the entire day, which Dutch meteorological service KNMI also said in issuing weather warnings for the weekend.

Through 6:30 p.m. on Friday, airlines at Schiphol had cancelled 68 departures and 56 inbound flights. But hundreds of scheduled trips also faced various delays, including 281 departures and 188 arrivals.

"Many passengers departed or arrived at Schiphol today. Together with our airport partners, our top priority remains to help as many travelers as possible get back on their way," Schiphol said at the end of Friday afternoon. "We expect a similar day tomorrow, with approximately 1,000 scheduled flights."

At the same time, "the situation is subject to change," Schiphol warned. "Passengers should take into account possible delays." Anyone ticketed to fly on one of the 500 scheduled departing flights should get up to date information before visiting the airport.

Airlines cancelled only five departing flights in advance of Saturday's operations. Another 27 flights destined for Schiphol were cancelled, and delays were already announced on 12 others, with 501 inbound flights in total.

KLM cancelled 25 of the flights that were supposed to depart to Amsterdam on Saturday. The decision was made as the result of cancellations at Schiphol on Friday night. The Dutch airline said it will not cancel more flights in advance of Saturday.

"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," KLM said earlier in the day.

Some 300,000 KLM passengers have been inconvenienced by the weather conditions since the start of the year. Storm Anna brought strong winds on Jan. 2 and 3, with snow arriving from Jan. 4 - 7. While Thursday was quiet, Friday brought some rain during the morning and snow in the evening.

Airlines have cancelled about 3,600 flights to and from Schiphol Airport since Jan. 2.