Amsterdam, 20 September 2024 — August has emerged as the busiest month at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, marking a significant milestone in the aviation industry’s recovery. The airport, which serves as a major European aviation hub, has experienced a substantial upturn in passenger traffic and flight operations when compared to the previous year.
According to the latest figures released by Schiphol Airport, the facility handled 6.4 million passengers in August, marking a six percent increase from the same period in 2023. This number approaches the pre-pandemic levels of the summer of 2019, which saw 6.8 million passengers passing through the airport in October of that year.
The airport also recorded over 43,000 flights last month, a nearly four percent increase from the previous year. This represents the highest number of flights since October 2019. The drop in flights and passenger numbers during the pandemic was dramatic, reaching a nadir in April 2020 with only 4,200 flights and fewer than 127,000 passengers.
Schiphol’s recovery has been a bellwether for the broader revival of the travel industry. While the pace of recovery has varied worldwide, Schiphol’s figures are a testament to the growing demand for air travel as restrictions ease and consumer confidence returns.
Destinations such as Spain were the most popular among travelers using Schiphol last month, with many flights also heading to the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, and the United States. Transfer passengers accounted for nearly 2.2 million of the total, with an additional 1.1 million unique passengers utilizing the airport for their final destination or origin. These figures are in line with the international method of counting passengers, which accounts for each passenger twice: once on arrival and once on departure.
Looking ahead, Schiphol CEO Pieter van Oord projected that the airport could surpass pre-pandemic passenger numbers next year. You see that people want to fly, he commented during a recent press conference. The planes are full despite the price increases of between 50 and 100 percent over the last four years.
The Dutch government has also shown leniency regarding the airport’s operational capacity. Minister of Infrastructure Barry Madlener recently indicated that the previously proposed reduction in the maximum number of annual flights from 460,000 to 470,000 would likely be adjusted to a range of 475,000 to 485,000. Madlener has sought advice from the European Commission on these plans.
These developments underscore the resilience and adaptability of the aviation sector in the face of extraordinary challenges, with Schiphol Airport standing as a prime example of the industry’s road to recovery.
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