Are you flying via Schiphol in the May holiday period? This is what you need to know!

Are you going on a nice journey during the May holiday period? You are not the only one! Together with 5.2 million other passengers, you will be flying from, to or via Schiphol. Because the May holidays are the same period for everyone, and because business travellers will also be flying these weeks, it could be even busier than usual! Would you like to know exactly how busy it will be? We recommend that you check your travel day! In any case, we will do everything we can to ensure a smooth start to your journey.

Higher staffing levels
To a greater extent than last year, we are making additional staff available, especially at Security Control, so there are sufficient people at all times of the day to help passengers go through the airport process as smoothly as possible. Our staff will be available earlier, in larger numbers and for longer periods, particularly around busy peak hours. Moreover, last December we consulted security companies to determine how many people we would need in May, which gave us more time to recruit and train sufficient people.

Key measures
In addition to additional staff, we are taking more measures:

• Small bags only: People with small hand baggage (a small backpack or smaller) will be allocated a separate departure lounge during busy periods. This will ensure faster passenger flow and the queue of people with large hand baggage will be shorter.
• Airport assistants: Additional employees will be on hand to help you and to disperse everyone throughout the various queues to improve passenger flow. Even our office staff will be helping out as airport assistants during this holiday period!
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Assist: the webcare team behind our social media channels has additional members this holiday period who are present in the terminal to quickly answer everyone’s questions.
• Extra security lanes: Extra security lanes have been installed in Departure Hall 2. We will also make our staff security lanes in Departure Hall 1 available to passengers during the busiest periods.
• Technicians stand-by: Is there an unexpected malfunction somewhere? Technicians are on stand-by at all times to service technology and ICT.

The above only includes the measures that we have taken ourselves. However, all around the airport we and our partners are preparing for the holiday period. After all, ensuring people can fly is certainly not done on our own.

Does this mean that there will be no queues during the May holiday period?
No, that is not what it means. It is a fact that flying has become more popular than ever and that more and more people are choosing to fly, even on ‘smaller’ trips. And that is certainly the case during the holiday periods when many people not only want to fly, but have to fly. No matter how many passengers there are at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, we always pay attention to safety during check-in, security control and passport control, but also at the gate and in the aircraft. Safety is top priority and we never compromise on that. And that will always continue to cost time.

Do you want to fly as smoothly as possible via Schiphol? Be well prepared for your journey and check our handy travel tips!