Amsterdam Schiphol Airport was once more the scene of chaos this week, with flight cancellations and delays, lost and delayed baggage blamed on strikes and understaffing.
KLM’s flights KL591 from AMS to JNB have been cancelled for today (October 14) and Sunday (October 16) - these are reflected as cancelled on agents’ GDSs.
Frustrated travellers have taken to social media to vent about long lines, crowds, delays and cancelled flights.
The airport has caps on departing passengers. Airlines were required to reduce the number of outbound passengers by 18% in the summer period through to the end of October. They were most recently asked to implement reductions up to 22% until the end of March.
KLM hit back at the announcement, calling it a “hopeless situation, lacking any perspective”.
“The ongoing constraints on passengers boarding locally is damaging our reputation among passengers who are keen and willing to travel after the extended COVID crisis,” KLM said in a statement, reporting having already lost more than €100m (R1,78bn) as a result at the end of September.
Joost van Doesburg, Schiphol campaign leader for union FNV, told CNN that the situation at Schiphol was “a crazy mess”. "…Working at a supermarket you can make much more money than being a security employee at Schiphol Airport," he said.
Some airlines have placed the blame on mismanagement by the airport and, on September 15, Royal Schiphol Group President and CEO, Dick Benschop, announced his resignation. Benschop recently confirmed that Schiphol faced severe operational issues driven by staff shortages.
"Those conditions, those labour market constraints, will not disappear overnight," he added. "That's what we are dealing with and how we are dealing with it. And, of course, for everybody involved, it's extremely hard work. If you let customers down, and there are moments that that really happened, it's extremely frustrating. It's painful. But we will get through it.”
Several airlines, including Air Malta, TUI and Transavia, moved flights from Schiphol to other airports recently, according to Simple Flying.
Schiphol flight cap looms
Restrictions on flight numbers at Schiphol are also looming. At the beginning of October the Dutch Parliament announced that Schiphol was to curb its annual number of flight movements from 500 000 to 440 000 to combat carbon emissions and noise pollution, starting in 2023.
Although this could ease some of the pressure on the airport, it presents challenges for airlines.
KLM CEO Marjan Rintel pointed out: “Calculations show that fleet renewal is a better alternative for reducing noise and CO2 emissions. This implies that it is a better solution for all. This is the issue I would like to address with the government, purely on the basis of facts and figures.”
