Passenger caps will again be introduced at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in April and May as it continues its recruitment drive for the forthcoming summer peak season. The move aims to alleviate pressure on infrastructure at the busiest times of the day.

Caps are back

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) will once again be forcing airlines to limit the total number of departing passengers through the airport until the middle of May, according to reports in De Telegraaf newspaper. This news follows last month's announcement by the airport's interim CEO, Ruud Sondag stating that there would be no capacity limits on the spring holidays.

The airport will impose a cap that will reduce the airport's daily passenger throughput by around 5,000 departing passengers. The airport is hoping to only implement the reduction cap during the hours of 06:00 and 13:00 daily for most of the period affected. The reduction is expected to affect around 5% of passengers that would normally be due to use the airport between those hours. This period is by far the busiest during the day at Schiphol.

According to reports, Schiphol will implement what it describes as "an extra safety margin of 5%" from the first week of April. The cap is likely to remain in place throughout April until May 14th. The spring school holidays start across the Netherlands on April 29th and end on May 7th.

The caps are reported to be necessary due to widespread staff shortages throughout the system, according to Kees Boef, the director of Corporate Affairs at Schiphol, speaking to De Telegraaf. It is expected that Schiphol will officially announce its plans for the plans later today following consultation with its airline clients. Although slight tweaks may still be made to the plan, according to Mr Boef, there are unlikely to be any significant changes at this stage.

Why is the cap necessary?

According to Mr Boef, Schiphol needs to reduce the number of travelers passing through it because,

"...there is too little margin within the airport’s entire system. If anything goes wrong at security, baggage, or passenger handling, the Koninklijke Marechaussee (Dutch police), or any other point in the system, there can be a snowball effect that can lead to leading to chaos within the airport."

The cap will mean that approximately 70,000 passengers will still be able to depart from the airport daily. This is significantly fewer than planned, especially during the May school holidays. However, as the airport's throughput is rising following the seasonal winter dip, those in charge are concerned that passenger numbers could rise too quickly and overwhelm the system.

According to Mr Boef,

“We are coming up from 40,000. So we are going in the right direction. But we are doing this in phases and without overloading the system.”

Hoping to avoid last year's holiday chaos

Schiphol Airport has enforced a limit on daily passenger movements since June 2022 due to widespread travel disruption. Last May holiday started a long period of chaos at the airport. Staff shortages, particularly in security and baggage handling areas, resulted in passengers queuing for many hours and multiple flights being canceled.

Thousands of suitcases were also left behind due to the baggage system being overwhelmed. The combined effect of these events severely tarnished Schiphol's image and reputation as news coverage of the chaos was transmitted across the world.

Sensible approach or a U-turn?

Only last month, Schiphol's interim CEO Ruud Sondag announced there would be no restrictions over the spring holidays. Sondag had said the airport had things in order and was prepared for a trouble-free May holiday.

That said, Mr Sontag did have slight reservations even when that announcement was made. The airport remained concerned about the hours between 06:00 and 13:00 on peak travel days.

Then two weeks ago, Sondag backtracked a bit, raising concerns about staff shortages at the airport's handling companies. De Telegraaf's sources state that the planned capacity reduction is also due to still-existing staff shortages in security.

Mr Sontag also said that Schiphol Airport was working with airlines, baggage handlers, and other parties to organize those peak moments so travelers do not experience long queues. He was hoping for voluntary agreements from airlines to spread out passengers more but said mandatory restrictions might still return in the worst-case scenario.

It would appear that with today's announcement, the airport authority has decided that the imposing of those mandatory restrictions has once again become unavoidable.

What do you think of the airport's plans to re-introduce the cap? Let us have your thoughts in the comments.

Sources: De Telegraaf, NL Times

• 

  Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AMS/EHAM

  Country:

  Netherlands

  CEO:

  Ruud Sondag

  Passenger Count :

  20,887,144 (2020)

  Runways :

  18R/36L 'Polderbaan' - 3,800m (12,467ft) | 06/24 'Kaagbaan' - 3,500m (11,483ft) | 09/27 'Buitenveldertbaan' - 3,453m (11,329ft) | 18L/36R 'Aalsmeerbaan' - 3,400m (11,155ft) | 18C/36C 'Zwanenburgbaan' - 3,300m (10,827ft) | 04/22 'Oostbaan' - 2,014m (6,608ft)