A disruption in Air Traffic Control's communication system that halted all flights at Schiphol for a short time on Wednesday, has been resolved. Air traffic at the Amsterdam airport is now getting back on track.
"The communication system of Air Traffic control is stable again. Air traffic is being restarted. It will take some time before the situation at our airport is running as normal again, so please check your airline or Schiphol.nl for current flight information", Schiphol said on Twitter.
Flight traffic was completely halted at Schiphol airport due to a disruption on Wednesday. All incoming flights were redirected to other airports.
Schiphol reported the disruption on Twitter at around 1:30 p.m. Ten minutes later the airport said that departing air traffic was slowly starting up again.
"At this moment, there is no incoming and outgoing flight traffic at our airport. Air traffic control is investigating this matter. We will keep you updated. Please check your current flight status on our website, our app or check your airline", Schiphol said on Twitter.
A 46-year-old pilot was caught under the influence of alcohol at Schiphol during the early hours of Sunday morning. While preparing the plane before departure, ground staff noticed that the pilot smelled of alcohol and notified the police, NOS reports.
A breathalyzer test a few hours later showed that the pilot's blood-alcohol level was 0.26. The maximum level allowed for pilots is 0.2 per mille. Aircraft personnel are not allowed to drink any alcohol 10 hours before departure.
When it comes to price per kilometer, a taxi from Schiphol airport is the 10th most expensive in Europe, according to a survey by Vliegveldinfo and AirMundo of the official taxi fares of the 50 busiest airports in Europe. Schiphol taxis charge 2.65 euros per kilometer. The most expensive airport taxis are in Geneva, at 5.67 euros per kilometer, the Telegraaf reports.
Monday will be the busiest day of the year so far for Schiphol. The airport expects 233 thousand people, 3 thousand more than its busiest day last year. Extra personnel were deployed to help manage the mass of passengers, but longer waiting times are still expected, NOS reports.
Travelers are urged to arrive at the airport on time.
This summer vacation Schiphol is processing a total of 12.7 million passengers, an increase of 2.4 percent compared to last year.
Fewer trains are running to and from Schiphol on Thursday morning due to a signal failure. Travelers are advised to take extra travel time into account. NS expects the problem to be solved by 10:30 a.m.
A broken train also means that no Intercity Direct trains are running between Schiphol and Breda. When this will be fixed is not yet clear.
Other problems on the track include fewer Sprinters between Tilburg in Boxtel, and no Intercity trains between Eindhoven and Weert. Both these issues should be resolved by 10:30 a.m., according to NS.
Ryanair cabin crew members in Belgium, Spain and Portugal will be striking next week Wednesday and Thursday. As a result, the Irish budget airline is canceling around 600 flights, including some to and from the Netherlands. Around 50 thousand passengers will be affected, Ryanair said.
Picking someone up or dropping someone off near the terminal at Schiphol may soon cost money. The Amsterdam airport is considering charging for so-called 'kiss & ride', the airport confirmed to NOS after a report in the Telegraaf.
How much it will cost, and when the rates will be implemented, is not yet clear. Schiphol is currently investigating the plan.
The police stopped a train at Amsterdam Lelylaan station due to a suspicious situation at around 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The police action was done by 6:30 a.m. and train traffic resumed, according to NU.nl.
The stopped train was running between Hoorn and Schiphol. A platform at the station was evacuated. The police did not say what suspicious situation triggered the halt.
Security personnel at Schiphol airport are performing labor actions on Monday for a better collective bargaining agreement. Longer lines are expected at security checkpoints, "but nobody will miss their flight", a spokesperson for union FNV said to the Telegraaf.
According to unions FNV and CNV, there is "an unbridgeable gap" between what the unions want and the employers offer in the collective bargaining talks. The unions want a wage increase of 3.5 percent this year.
Eindhoven Airport is the 10th worst airport in the world, according to a study of 141 airports worldwide by Airhelp, an organization that helps people with compensation for delays. Flights to and from Eindhoven are relatively often delayed, and passengers are often negative about the airport.
A Transavia flight from Gran Canaria to Schiphol had to make an emergency landing in Faro, Portugal on Tuesday night due to a stinky passenger. The stench was so bad that people became unwell, passengers said, according to RTL Nieuws.
A KLM pilot was arrested at the airport in Oslo, Norway after an alcohol test. The pilot was set to fly from Oslo to Schiphol. KLM refused to comment on the pilot's identity, or give any further details about the arrest, AD reports.
"We do not want to go into this matter any further because an investigation is ongoing", the airline said in a statement on Sunday, according to the newspaper. "In general we can say that at KLM alcohol and flying does not go together. Safety is always our highest priority."
The people living around six Dutch airports joined forces to fight against what they consider the undesirable growth of aviation in the Netherlands. On Tuesday they established a national residents' council on aviation called LBBL, ANP reports.
While busy Dutch airports like Schiphol, Eindhoven and Rotterdam are bursting at the seams, Groningen Airport Eelde can easily still handle thousands of more flights, according to Groningen Airport Eelde. The airport is therefore calling for a better and fairer distribution of air traffic in the country, NU.nl reports.
According to the airport, 1.7 million people live in the north of the Netherlands who annually account for 2.7 million passenger movements. Every day, five thousand people travel from the north to Schiphol to catch a flight.
Eight people fell ill for unknown reasons on board a Transavia flight from Schiphol to Antalya in Turkey on Sunday morning. The pilot made a precautionary landing in Vienna after people started fainting on board, NOS reports.
Passenger Hetty Roelofsen told NOS that the problems started when one passenger smelled something strange and fell ill. After that a total of eight people became unwell, spread over te plane.
A KLM flight from Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur had to make an unscheduled landing in Phuket on Tuesday after an overheating cellphone started smoking on board.
According to KLM, the plane was landed on the Thailand island - the closest airport at the time - as a precautionary measure. "At no time were passengers or crew in danger", the airline said in a statement.
A safety check was done, and the plane was released for departure shortly after the unscheduled stop. But due to compulsory crew work and rest times, the flight did not continue to Kuala Lumpur immediately.
In the coming years Schiphol will remain very crowded during the morning and evening peak-times. If the airport wants to grow further, it will have to do so outside peak times, because no more takeoffs and landings can be fit into the peak times, various Dutch news sources including Haarlems Dagblad, Noordhollands Dagblad and RTL Nieuws report.
Transferring holiday flights to Lelystad airport will not fix this problem, the newspapers write based on several studies carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Employees of baggage- and freight handlers Aviapartner, Menzies Aviation and Swissport will hold multiple short strikes throughout Thursday at Schiphol. While the strikes will be short, they may result in delays, AD reports.
A large power outage affecting parts of Amsterdam and Schiphol on Sunday also caused problems for chat service Telegram. Users across the world could not connect to the Telegram servers, NU.nl reports.
On Twitter Telegram reported that users in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa could have connection problems. The problem was resolved around 1:00 p.m.
Around 6 thousand travelers whose flights from Schiphol were canceled on Sunday, will be departing throughout the course of Monday.
Schiphol airport expects a busy day on Monday due to spillover from a power outage on Sunday, people leaving on May vacation, and travelers returning from a long King's Day weekend. This will mean long lines at check-ins and passport controls. The airport calls on travelers to check in online and arrive at the airport earlier.
In the discussion about the future of Schiphol airport, the importance of safety is "insufficiently weighed against the other interests that are involved with the airport", the Dutch Safety Board stressed in a press release on Wednesday, NOS reports.
Employees of baggage- and cargo handlers Aviapartner, Menzies Aviation and Swissport are performing labor actions at Schiphol Airport on Friday. According to trade union FNV, travelers can expect to get their luggage with delay, but will not miss their flight, Het Parool reports.
The employees of these baggage handling companies are protesting against too heavy work loads and lagging salary development. FNV recently gave the companies an ultimatum.
In today's protest employees will follow each instruction carefully, slowly and to the letter.
