Schiphol airport braces itself for summer of long
queues and chaos
Business Society
June 1, 2022
Utrecht Air
passengers have been warned to face delays and long queues this summer despite
Schiphol airport reaching an outline agreement this week with unions to improve
pay and conditions. A walkout by baggage handlers in April caused massive
disruption on one of the busiest Saturdays of the year, the start of the May
school holiday, while a shortage of security staff has led to long waits at
baggage checkpoints in recent weeks. The deal between the airport’s management
and the FNV union is designed to prevent further strikes but underlying
problems remain, including understaffing and scheduled maintenance work on two
runways at the start of July. -ADVERTENTIE- A document leaked to the Telegraaf
warned that the trend was likely to continue through the summer, peaking in
July, with Fridays and Sundays expected to be the busiest days. Roel Elshout, director
of claims firm Vlucht-vertraagd.nl, said a million passengers could be affected
by measures to relieve the pressure on the airport. Schiphol has struggled to
cope with demand in recent weeks despite operating at 70% of its maximum
capacity. Cancelled flights Airlines are being asked to cancel flights or
switch them to regional airports such as Rotterdam or Eindhoven as Schiphol
seeks to cut its timetable by 30% in July and August. But most carriers want
the airport to make changes first, such as opening the terminal earlier to
allow passengers to queue, before they change their schedules. ‘It’s like a
wild west duel where everyone is looking at each other to see who moves first,
while hundreds of thousands of holidays are at risk of falling through,’
Elshout told the Telegraaf. Schiphol’s CEO Dick Benschop promised at the
weekend that the airport had an action plan to prevent a repeat of last month’s
chaos in the summer, but on Monday he tempered expectations by warning that
staff shortages would not be fixed quickly. No quick fix Benschop and FNV
negotiator Joost van Doesburg said the deal, which includes extra bonus pay for
airport workers and measures to improve working conditions, had minimised the
risk of strikes during the summer, but warned that issues such as a shortage of
personnel would not be solved overnight. More details of the agreement are due
to be unveiled at a press conference at Schiphol on Wednesday. ‘I don’t think
the queues will be gone by summer, but I think we can make sure we don’t have
people fainting in the queues next May,’ Van Doesburg said in a briefing to
parliament on Tuesday. Benschop said the agreement was an ‘important step’
towards tackling the problems and marked a shift in priorities for the airport,
which was criticised by MPs for promoting a ‘race to the bottom’ in recent
years. ‘For a long time growth and costs came first, but that is no longer the
case,’ he said. ‘It’s now about quality and that includes quality of work.’
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