Amsterdam airport limits passengers in summer due to lack of staff

- According to airport estimates, dozens to hundreds of flights will be canceled on the busiest days of July.

Comfortably lying in the corridors of Schipol Airport (Holland). / Sleepinginairports.net

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport will limit the number of passengers that can use the aerodrome in the months of July and August to avoid greater problems than those that have already been registered since the end of April due to the shortage of security personnel, which will mean the cancellation of hundreds of flights this summer.

In July, the daily departure of a maximum of 67,500 travelers will be allowed, and in August 72,500 passengers, and the most affected period will be between July 7 and 31, since the airport estimates that it will have to reject an average of 13,500 passengers per day, confirmed the executive president of the Schiphol Group, Dick Benschop.

"The demand that we expect this summer is greater than the capacity that we can obtain with all the measures taken before (…) It is not responsible to enter the summer at random. We are responsible for the safety of our passengers and employees," Benschop said in statements. to the press.

"The demand that we expect this summer is higher than the capacity that we can obtain with all the measures taken before"

According to calculations by the director of operations at Schiphol, Patricia Vitalis, dozens to hundreds of flights will be canceled on the busiest days of July, for which she urged airlines to "take off from regional airports, there is still room there". in reference to the aerodromes of Rotterdam-The Hague, and that of Eindhoven.

Shortages of security personnel and luggage have caused flight cancellations on several weekends since the end of April at Schiphol, the third-busiest airport by international passenger traffic.

Airlines and travel agencies are responsible for reorganizing or permanently canceling the affected flights, and some companies are already announcing the transfer of flight departures to other airports, the sale of fewer tickets, and the possible cancellation of reservations.

On Thursday the organization that brings together travel agencies, ANVR, announced that it will go to court to force Schiphol to compensate for the damage caused by canceled flights in the past, as there are fears that the agencies will face financial problems if they are who must compensate for the affected trips.

The unions and Schiphol have reached an agreement in early June that includes new hires and a bonus during the summer, thus canceling the strikes with which the employees most affected by labor pressure threatened, but that has not resolved the shortage of staff.