For several days, the lack of ground staff at Amsterdam airport has caused long delays for passengers and the cancellation of some flights. This congestion is also felt elsewhere in Europe, while airport services are struggling to recruit.
The situation is such at Amsterdam airport that Schiphol operators have asked airlines not to take any new bookings until Sunday.
They responded by also canceling many flights, but the decision was not enough to avoid queues of several hours last weekend already. The Dutch firefighters even intervened to distribute water to the passengers, summoned more than four hours before the departure of their respective flights.
Some 174,000 people pass through this airport every day, which is the third largest in Europe. This is less than before the Covid-19 crisis, but the ground staff, on partial strike, is not enough. This explains the very long queues. And the situation should remain very complicated once more during this weekend of May 7 and 8.
However, Geneva airport was not aware on Thursday of any cancellation of flights to Amsterdam in the coming days. But the management recommends to inquire before going to the airport.
Tense situation across Europe
Unions representing employees or subcontractors of Groupe ADP, manager of Paris airports, have also warned once morest the risk of congestion, particularly at security checks, while 4,000 positions are to be filled on these platforms and that the companies are struggling to recruit.
The world’s main association of airlines called on Wednesday to “urgently address” the causes of the congestion of many airports, at a time when traffic is picking up sharply following more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As travel restrictions are being lifted in most countries, latent demand, the long-awaited surge (in air travel) is finally materializing,” said the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association. (IATA), Willie Walsh.
But “unfortunately, we are also seeing long waits at many airports, due to insufficient resources to handle the rising crowds,” he said in a statement from his organization representing 290 airlines and accounting for 83% of global airport traffic. passengers.
oang with Katja Schaer and afp
