Once upon a time Amsterdam Schiphol won numerous awards for being the ‘best’ airport in Europe.
But faced with congestion within its single terminal and a government-inspired capacity cap, it has lost its prime position as a leading airport.
Schiphol has many runways so it is not short of runway capacity as is the case at London Heathrow with two runways.
Rather, its management has retained Schiphol’s single terminal for too long which, as readers will attest, can mean long transfers between flights.
Now Schiphol seems to be following in the footsteps of London Heathrow by again substantially hiking its fees, knowing its dominant position allows it to do so.
The airport states:
“The fees that Schiphol charges airlines to use the airport will increase by a total of 37 per cent over three years. As a result, airlines will pay Schiphol an average of €15 more for a local departing passenger in 2027 compared to 2024. The increase in charges is driven by exceptionally high inflation and sharply increased interest rates over the past three years.”
Airline customers are unhappy, especially KLM for whom Schiphol is its global hub. KLM says that such increases would make Schiphol the second most expensive airport in Europe for its airline customers.
KLM’s CEO Marjan Rintel said:
“Schiphol shifts additional costs of setbacks and budget overruns largely to the traveller. More expensive tickets are inevitable if you increase airport charges so drastically. This is unreasonable and unwise.
“Unreasonable, because Schiphol is placing the costs of all setbacks and Covid-19 entirely on the airlines. Unwise, because in doing so, the airport undermines its competitive position as an international hub. This poses risks for the hub function, the connectivity of the Netherlands, and our economy.”
What does it mean for the traveller?
Personally I believe it will affect short-haul flights beginning and ending at Amsterdam rather than those flights transferring at Schiphol. In this regard short-haul travellers, especially those taking budget airlines, will see effects.
One beneficiary could be Eurostar. Its former CEO Jacques Damas previously claimed Eurostar could not compete with budget airlines on price.
As for Eurostar the train firm says its direct Amsterdam-London service will resume from February 10 next year.
Its enlarged Amsterdam Centraal terminal will enable another 200 passengers to be carried per train.
Schiphol also recently announced what it says is “the biggest investment plan in the airport’s history”.
