The limit on the number of passengers served per day by Schiphol was introduced back in July — no more than 67,500 people. In August it was increased to 73,000 in August due to peak school holiday dates.
In September, they promise to return the July daily “norm”, and in October to raise the bar to 69 & nbsp; 500 passengers.
Airport officials themselves are predicting further delays during the two weeks of the fall break and in these months in general due to “seasonal effects.” Travelers wear more clothes in autumn — coats, hiking boots, vests. Therefore, more pockets are formed, both external and internal. “Naturally, when you pass through the frame, all this household stuff in your pockets starts to ring: keys, coins, lighters, other small metal objects,” — explained the representative of the airport. As a result, checking all carry-on luggage and screening passengers takes a little longer.
All in all, Schiphol is gearing up for a busy four months and expanding its security team with 200 new employees. In October, the airport will add 80 more to them.
“Maintaining the maximum limit of departing passengers helps to cope with operational schedule changes, such as a delay in the arrival or departure of a flight,” — airport spokesman added. “Virtually all services at the airport are understaffed and any unexpected changes could lead to global delays at Schiphol Airport.”
Due to staff strikes and the recent European heat wave, delays and cancellations of flights at Schiphol have become permanent. In addition, traffic has increased since many countries around the world eased restrictions related to COVID-19 at the beginning of the year.
More chaos erupted a few weeks ago when a failure in the airport's baggage claim system resulted in some KLM passengers being unable to check in their luggage, causing pandemonium.
When the original restriction went into effect last month, airlines, working in Amsterdam, were not ready for them. The airport gave some of them an ultimatum: transfer to smaller planes or leave their seats empty.
Back in June, the Dutch government announced ambitious plans to reduce the number of flights at the country's busiest airport from 500,000 to 440,000 per year, starting in 2023 to combat air pollution.
In normal years, Schiphol operated an average of 1,250 flights per day. Thus, the planned cuts will reduce the number of flights in the European hub by about 11% — this is a significant decline in the performance of Europe's third largest airport.
According to current recommendations, passengers can arrive at the airport no more than four hours before departure.