Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport saw traffic double to 52.5 million travellers last year compared with 2021, but this was still nearly 20 million lower than in 2019, as staff shortages forced the hub to implement an ongoing cap on passenger numbers through the winter season.
The Netherlands hub airport, which is part of Royal Schiphol Group, said that passenger numbers in 2022 remained 27 per cent lower than in 2019 when it catered for 71.7 million travellers.
The total number of flights to and from Schiphol increased to 397,646 last year, which was a 49 per cent rise compared with 2021 but still 20 per cent lower than in 2019. Connecting traffic remains crucial for the airport with 37 per cent of passengers transferring through Schiphol in 2022.
Schiphol added 27 new destinations in 2022 to reach a total of 313 routes, including Austin in the US and Bali. But the airport also saw flights to 10 other cities that operated in 2021 being axed last year.
“In the first half of the year, passenger numbers at Amsterdam Schiphol increased by 324 per cent compared to the first half of 2021. This led to operational disruptions - predominantly the consequence of staff shortages - with long queues as a result,” said the group.
“To make service more reliable, the airport both reduced the numbers of locally departing passengers and worked on structural solutions to solve these shortages. Together with security companies and trade unions, Schiphol focused on recruiting staff and on improving terms and conditions of employment.”
Royal Schiphol Group also runs Eindhoven airport, which catered for 6.3 million passengers in 2022, compared with 6.7 million in 2019. Another group airport, Rotterdam The Hague, exceeded its 2019 traffic with 2.1 million passengers in 2022 – an increase of 0.8 per cent on the last pre-Covid year.
The figures again emphasise the pan-European trend for regional airports to recover more quickly than the major hubs, which have struggled to keep up with the strong rebound in demand – mainly due to staffing issues.