Amsterdam Schiphol warns about new cap on number of travellers

Will Amsterdam Schiphol again limit the number of travellers departing through the airport during the busy holiday periods of May and summer? Staff shortages remain, and if the situation doesn’t improve in the next weeks, the Dutch airport will have to take necessary measures, a spokesperson warned.

Hundreds of baggage handling vacancies are still open. “When handlers and/or airlines don’t resolve the shortage, they will be forced to handle less passengers,” the spokesperson added.

There is also a stalemate with the security staffers: “Their pay is around €17 per hour, but at the airport they only earn €12 per hour. That’s why people leave. The handling companies should arrange something in the remuneration. But for the time being they do not want to move,” said Schiphol’s spokesperson to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Currently six handling agents are competing with each other at Schiphol, not an ideal situation. “The staff shortage at some handlers may result in a delayed aircraft, that might also delay one of our aircraft and thus affect our operations,” a KLM spokesperson said.

Last year in May, the chaos and queues around and inside the airport started, and never went away, much to the dislike of many passengers travelling through the airport.

Source: Mogelijk weer reizigersplafond op Schiphol om personeelstekort (De Telegraaf)