Royal Schiphol Group, the owner and operator of three Dutch airports – the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM), and Lelystad Airport (LEY) – has released its financial report for the full year of 2022, reporting a loss of €77 million ($82.5 million).

"Poor 2022"

According to a statement released by the airport group on February 17, 2023, the financial loss was caused by capacity issues, resulting in extra costs of approximately €120 million ($128.5 million) for all the airports in the group.

The report revealed that the Dutch airport group incurred losses despite the strong passenger traffic recovery. In 2022, the total number of passengers at Royal Schiphol Group airports increased by 110% to 60.8 million. This compares to 28.9 million passengers accommodated in 2021.

Sign to KLM Crowne Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (Lounge 25)
Photo: Omar Memon | Simple Flying

Commenting on the group's yearly financial results, Ruud Sondag, CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, said:

"Never before in Schiphol's history have we disappointed so many travelers and airlines as in 2022. Our efforts and hard work did not lead to the necessary improvements in the system and, as a result, we were not able to provide the service we wanted.

"2022 will therefore go down as a bad chapter in our own history books. But it is also a chapter we will not forget so that all new chapters we write will be better. We are working hard on this, and in 2022 we started to implement structural improvements. Because we have to do better. And I am convinced that we can."

Despite the financial difficulties, the airport group saw increased aircraft activity. There were 397,646 air transport movements at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, an increase of 49% compared to 2021. However, the cargo volumes at AMS decreased by 14% to 1.44 million tons. There were 18,340 cargo-only flights, a decline of 24% compared to 2021.

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Outlook for the future

The Dutch airport group has outlined its future outlook for 2023. Looking ahead, the airport group remains uncertain about the full traffic recovery this year.

Schiphol Airport control tower
Photo: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

The passenger traffic recovery is subject to the possible COVID-related travel restrictions and "potential operational constraints to cope with the strong pick-up in demand and - in the medium term - the announcement by the Dutch Government to cap the number of flight movements at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to 440,000 as of November 2024", the airport group outlined in the statement.

Pax caps are back

In the summer of 2022, staff shortages, strikes, and other operational difficulties caused thousands of flight cancellations and delays at Schiphol International Airport. Due to operational challenges, the airport was forced to introduce passenger caps.

Not wanting to repeat last summer's chaos, AMS airport will introduce passenger caps again, forcing carriers to limit the total number of departing passengers through the airport from April to the middle of May 2023, according to a report by De Telegraaf.

This news followed last month's announcement by the airport's CEO Sondag, saying there would be no limits in spring 2023. The airport will impose a cap that will reduce the airport's daily passenger throughput by around 5,000 departing passengers.

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