Schiphol continues to grow: 6 percent more passengers in 2015
Schiphol Airport continues to grow, last year the number of passengers rose to more than 58 million passengers. That is an increase of 6 percent compared to 2014. The airport's turnover fell by 1 percent to 1,42 billion euros, but net profit rose to 374 million euros.
Passengers and visitors spent less money in the shops and duty-free shops, although turnover in the catering industry increased. Turnover from parking also grew.
According to Jos Nijhuis, president of the Schiphol Group, “Schiphol is one of the most important hubs in Europe”. “The number of travelers is growing strongly and we naturally want to continue with that. We are now quickly reaching the limits of our peak capacity. Investments in improving and increasing the infrastructure, quality and accessibility of Schiphol are necessary.”
Last year, 109 airlines flew from Schiphol to 95 countries. The number of direct destinations was 322 (was 323 in 2014). Freight fared less (-0,7 percent). This was mainly due to the economic malaise in Russia and Asia.
Schiphol reduced airport charges with effect from 1 April 2015 by 6,8 percent. The rates will be further reduced as of 1 April this year, this time by 11,6 percent. “That is necessary to remain competitive,” says Nijhuis.
Source: Schiphol Group press release
“Schiphol is one of the most important hubs in Europe”, but if they continue like this, it will decrease rapidly, as it is already known that long waiting times at passport control are ahead. Why respond quickly to the situation since they have far too few staff at such an important airport. But that will have to be discussed for a long time first. As usual, backtracking massively.
The problem is that Schiphol can do little about the lack of personnel at the Marechaussee.
What I find ridiculous is that they have those beautiful electronic gates for passport control and they are simply turned off 90% of the time. While the use could help enormously with the problems with staff shortages.
In addition, I personally think that Schiphol has not really become more pleasant after the last series of renovations.
The boss of Schiphol also touched on that problem yesterday. I have to say that this problem is currently present at many European airports due to the fact that quite a few border guards have been sent to other countries' borders because of people smuggling. What you see quite a few airports switching to VIP for cattle class customers. So pay for quick carry on. I have a hunch that something like this will become a trend in the world of scoring margins.