Anyone who has ever flown in or out of Amsterdam is familiar with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol where millions of travelers pass through the Netherlands every day. At the company’s New Year’s Day reception the Schiphol Group recently announced the firm had a record year in 2011, with nearly 50 millions passengers served. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol press releases say the 49.8 million air passengers traveling through the airport in 2011 represent a 10.2% growth over 2010 and make it the fourth busiest airport in Europe today.
Although the total amount of cargo transported remained virtually unchanged at 1.5 million tons, the total number of all air transport movements at Schiphol went up from 386,319 to 420,245 in 2011. Located five miles southwest of Amsterdam, Airport Schiphol has six standard runways and 18 double jet way gates to handle the larger Airbus A380. Schiphol now boasts 313 direct flights, with 169 of them being to European destinations. Schiphol also added six new continental destinations during 2011, with four to South America and two to China.
Schiphol Group President and CEO, Jos Nijhuis was quot4ed saying “Our transport results are favorable. We served a record number of passengers in 2011 – almost 50 million. Schiphol’s European market share has also grown as a result. Last year the airport was honored to welcome its billionth passenger since its inception in 1916. In terms of passenger volume, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has recaptured its ranking as Europe’s fourth-largest airport. The Schiphol Group believes its network of connections is critical for maintaining the Netherlands’ attractive business climate and as CEO Nijhuis added, “This year will be a challenging year, in which we are expecting to see passenger volumes stabilize and cargo volumes shrink.”
The group also expects that passenger and cargo volumes will start to grow again in the longer term and that the airport will need more terminal capacity to handle the increasing loads. Nijhuis added that "Schiphol needs to take a number of major steps in order to remain Europe's preferred airport, also in the long term. This means that we will be investing in capacity and quality. We are currently preparing an investment program to ensure the ongoing development of our Main airport. To that end, exact plans will be specified in detail in the months ahead in consultation with our key stakeholders."
