KLM wants Schiphol to come up with concrete solutions next week to prevent safety checks to recede during peak days in summer holidays, as happened in the May holidays. That's what the airline's topman Pieter Elbers said to the ANP press agency on Thursday.sn26567 wrote: ↑03 May 2017, 12:38 Strong reaction of KLM towards Schiphol indeed:
https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/klm-roy ... irst-step/
The most striking sentence: "KLM calls on the Schiphol Board of Directors to take adequate action in due course. Both on the supply side (volume policy) and in terms of capacity (timely investing in piers, gates and security instead of shops and hotels)."
The deployment of additional personnel announced earlier this week by Schiphol is, according to Elbers, only a first step. "The summer holiday is coming, the volumes are even higher," said the KLM boss.
According to him, there are many more bottlenecks that need to be tackled before that period, from luggage handling to availability of adequate aircraft deployment facilities.
KLM is discussing the situation next week with Schiphol and State Secretary Sharon Dijksma (Infrastructure). Elbers has high expectations for that conversation, though it is primarily because Schiphol has not listened to the warnings of its main customer. All of the problems mentioned have already been addressed at the airport much earlier.
"The consequences are bad for us, for our passengers and for the reputation of the Netherlands abroad," said Elbers. "For example, in China, Schiphol is often mentioned as an example of how an aviation hub should work. But let's see what's being said on social media about us."
The long queues cost KLM a few millions, the company already told Wednesday. Every day, dozens of people had to be rebooked because they had missed their flight. In addition, passengers with a delay of three hours or more will be entitled to compensation.