Today is expected to be Schiphol airport's busiest day of the year. A record number of 230 thousand passengers are traveling through the airport on Monday, six thousand more than the previous record established last month, NOS reports.
Most of the travelers are only passing through - 81 thousand people are stepping from one flight to another at the Amsterdam airport today. Over 78 thousand are departing and 71 thousand are arriving with the Netherlands as destination.
Schiphol Airport is getting help from various government services as well as citizens this busy summer period, State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure announced on Friday. "We are doing everything to prevent repetition", she said to the Telegraaf, referring to massive crowds, delays and long lines at the airport during the May holidays.
Schiphol Airport will open all security gates in Departure Hall 1 during the summer season to help deal with the expected crowds. All security gates in Departure Hall 2 will also be opened if necessary, the airport announced following consultations between State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure, Schiphol CEO Jos Nijhuis and KLM CEO Pieter Elbers, NU.nl reports.
Lawyer Alexander Colenbrander is preparing a mass lawsuit against Schiphol on behalf of people who missed their flights due to long lines at the airport's security checkpoints during the May holiday. People who missed their flight and want to claim their expenses back, can report to a new Utrecht company Claimingo, AD reports.
Schiphol is setting in extra personnel to work at security check points during busy periods this summer. The airport came to this decision following endlessly long lines and waiting times during the May holidays, CEO Jos Nijhuis said to AD.
After a weekend of long lines at security gates and passport checks, Schiphol is now also dealing with overcrowded gates, taxi lanes and runways, resulting in flights falling even further behind, Het Parool reports. Airlines Transavia and KLM and union FNV are calling on the airport to take immediate measures to improve how it handles crowds.
Schiphol airport was massively crowded over the weekend, and the same conditions are expected today. Airlines KLM and Transavia are advising passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their flights, also for flights within Europe, if they want to avoid missing it. Schiphol advises travelers to listen to their airlines.
Schiphol added ten new routes to its summer schedule. Passengers flying from Schiphol airport can now choose from nearly 200 European destinations and over 100 intercontinental destinations, the airport announced, Up In The Sky reports.
The number of flights to several already existing Schiphol destinations was also increased for summer. The summer schedule is in place from March 27th to October 28th.
The 10 new destinations are:
