– **Dutch hub says it lost €1.7 billion in revenue in pandemic**
– **IATA chief Walsh says performance at Schiphol is ‘dreadful’**
Amsterdam Schiphol defended a recent landing-fee increase after Willie Walsh, the longtime airline boss who is now the industry’s chief lobbyist, called it the “worst airport in the world.”
“The disruption is terrible, performance is dreadful and at the same time they want to increase charges,” Walsh said this week at the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting in Istanbul. “It’s absolutely pathetic, completely unacceptable.”
Airlines have been at odds with the Netherlands’ biggest hub over increased charges and they have filed complaints to the Dutch authorities after Schiphol raised fees by 12% from April 1.
“We understand that this is unfortunate for airlines,” Willemeike Koster, a Schiphol spokesperson, said in an email. “However, after years of insufficient investment and too much emphasis on cost control, we need to make a necessary catch-up.”
While airlines have enjoyed a surge of revenue driven by skyrocketing fares, airports have struggled to do the same, lacking the same flexibility to raise prices on fees and tariffs that are fixed, regulated or commercially negotiated. At the IATA AGM in Istanbul this week, Walsh announced a doubling of the group’s global profit forecast for 2023.
Koster said the Dutch hub missed out on €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic and claimed Schiphol has the lowest rates among the major hub airports in Europe, even after this year’s increase.
“I used to hold Heathrow as the worst airport in the world. Schiphol now holds that prize,” said Walsh, the former chief executive of British Airways parent IAG SA. “Schiphol was a fantastic airport, loved by airlines and passengers, but its star has disappeared. It’s sad to see.”
I’ve always been impressed with Schiphol. They have some of the most efficient check in, baggage drop, and airport security I’ve ever seen.
one of the worlds worst? jesus Schipol was one of the best in Europe when Heathrow and CDG were still to undergo their much needed revamps and id wager is still pretty dang great today.
Jeddahs airport is an airport in the world, and people literally shit on the floors while waiting for the bus that will drive them to a dusty tarmak to climb into their plane on rickety rolling stairs.
And Jeddah’s isn’t even the worst airport *I’ve* been to, so this whole rating system is nonesense.
What’s wrong with Schiphol? I had a connection there several weeks ago and I was impressed just how efficient it was. I was worried about short time, but it took me 15 minutes to get to the gate for next flight (including passport control since it was Schengen -> non-Schengen connection). Try it in CDG or FRA.
Had one of the most annoying trips through Schipol with KLM recently, so I can relate. A lot of the blame is on KLM though.
No way! Fake News! Once in that airport a South American lady was lost and needed help. She couldn’t speak Spanish and reached out to my wife, who I guess she thought was south American as well. We took her to airport personnel, one of whom some Spanish and helped the south American lady.
I thought the best of Schiphol since that day.
One of my favorite airports in the world. Beautiful, efficient.
Every time I’ve been through Schiphol I’ve had to queue for hours for security
There are literal dozens of airports between North and South America that make Schiphol look like a 5 star resort in comparison. This is very dumb.
I am okay with AMS except for one thing, the arrivals passport line. There is no airflow and overly hot. After no sleep schlepping across the ocean, I sometimes just feel like passing out waiting in line for passport control. If you are EU citizen, they have the automated system. I wish the EU would allow us to pay an additional fee to US World Traveler so that we could use that system too.
11 comments
Article:
– **Dutch hub says it lost €1.7 billion in revenue in pandemic**
– **IATA chief Walsh says performance at Schiphol is ‘dreadful’**
Amsterdam Schiphol defended a recent landing-fee increase after Willie Walsh, the longtime airline boss who is now the industry’s chief lobbyist, called it the “worst airport in the world.”
“The disruption is terrible, performance is dreadful and at the same time they want to increase charges,” Walsh said this week at the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting in Istanbul. “It’s absolutely pathetic, completely unacceptable.”
Airlines have been at odds with the Netherlands’ biggest hub over increased charges and they have filed complaints to the Dutch authorities after Schiphol raised fees by 12% from April 1.
“We understand that this is unfortunate for airlines,” Willemeike Koster, a Schiphol spokesperson, said in an email. “However, after years of insufficient investment and too much emphasis on cost control, we need to make a necessary catch-up.”
While airlines have enjoyed a surge of revenue driven by skyrocketing fares, airports have struggled to do the same, lacking the same flexibility to raise prices on fees and tariffs that are fixed, regulated or commercially negotiated. At the IATA AGM in Istanbul this week, Walsh announced a doubling of the group’s global profit forecast for 2023.
Koster said the Dutch hub missed out on €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic and claimed Schiphol has the lowest rates among the major hub airports in Europe, even after this year’s increase.
“I used to hold Heathrow as the worst airport in the world. Schiphol now holds that prize,” said Walsh, the former chief executive of British Airways parent IAG SA. “Schiphol was a fantastic airport, loved by airlines and passengers, but its star has disappeared. It’s sad to see.”
I’ve always been impressed with Schiphol. They have some of the most efficient check in, baggage drop, and airport security I’ve ever seen.
one of the worlds worst? jesus Schipol was one of the best in Europe when Heathrow and CDG were still to undergo their much needed revamps and id wager is still pretty dang great today.
Jeddahs airport is an airport in the world, and people literally shit on the floors while waiting for the bus that will drive them to a dusty tarmak to climb into their plane on rickety rolling stairs.
And Jeddah’s isn’t even the worst airport *I’ve* been to, so this whole rating system is nonesense.
What’s wrong with Schiphol? I had a connection there several weeks ago and I was impressed just how efficient it was. I was worried about short time, but it took me 15 minutes to get to the gate for next flight (including passport control since it was Schengen -> non-Schengen connection). Try it in CDG or FRA.
Had one of the most annoying trips through Schipol with KLM recently, so I can relate. A lot of the blame is on KLM though.
No way! Fake News! Once in that airport a South American lady was lost and needed help. She couldn’t speak Spanish and reached out to my wife, who I guess she thought was south American as well. We took her to airport personnel, one of whom some Spanish and helped the south American lady.
I thought the best of Schiphol since that day.
One of my favorite airports in the world. Beautiful, efficient.
Every time I’ve been through Schiphol I’ve had to queue for hours for security
There are literal dozens of airports between North and South America that make Schiphol look like a 5 star resort in comparison. This is very dumb.
I am okay with AMS except for one thing, the arrivals passport line. There is no airflow and overly hot. After no sleep schlepping across the ocean, I sometimes just feel like passing out waiting in line for passport control. If you are EU citizen, they have the automated system. I wish the EU would allow us to pay an additional fee to US World Traveler so that we could use that system too.