SCHIPHOL, WILLEMSTAD - Schiphol is reducing the daily number of departing passengers by an average of 9,250 per day until at least the end of October, the airport announced on Friday. The airport is cutting capacity by 18 percent because it again does not have enough security employees to handle all departures safely and in a timely manner. 

“This decision is bad news for passengers and for airlines,” said COO Hanne Buis of Royal Schiphol Group. “The reduction is necessary to guarantee the safety of our passengers and employees.” 

Until now, Schiphol limited local departing passengers to 67,500 per day in September and 69,500 per day in October. The new maximum is 54,500 per day for the rest of this month and 57,000 per day next month. The independent slot coordinator will consult with airlines about how the new limits will affect them. 

The airport called on security companies to offer full rosters for security guards. “It is clear that structural improvements are needed. Agreements have been made about this in the social agreement that we concluded last June. We are working hard on this with all parties involved,” Buis said. 

A shortage of security guards has caused hours-long lines at Schiphol throughout the summer, prompting the airport to limit the number of departing passengers from July. Schiphol’s CEO Dick Benschop resigned on Thursday due to the chaos at the airport. BARIN, the industry association for airlines operating in the Netherlands, blamed the chaos on failing policies at the airport. The airlines have long been unhappy that they’ve been carrying the consequences of these failed policies. 

Dutch Caribbean flights  

This measure has no influence on the KLM and TUI flights to the Caribbean. KLM region manager Dirk Buitelaar and regional manager of TUI Rick van der Pluijm indicated this.

According to Buitelaar, the measure has no influence on the KLM flights to the Caribbean. Although it is not yet clear to TUI what the precise impact of Schiphol's decision will be, the airline assumes that, just like before, the flights to the ABC islands will not be touched.