The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on the travel and tourism industry, and while things are most certainly not yet back to normal, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport did see a 20 percent increase in passenger numbers in 2021 compared to the year before.
International travel was brought to a complete standstill when COVID-19 first broke out in the spring of 2020, and while the introduction of systems such as the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate and the relaxation of various travel restrictions has opened things up, passenger numbers remain low.
Pre-pandemic, Schiphol Airport - one of the most important travel hubs in Europe - welcomed over 70 million passengers per year. This figure dropped significantly in 2020, when passenger numbers were under 21 million. In comparison to 2019, passenger numbers remain seriously low, but in 2021 Schiphol experienced a 20 percent increase, welcoming 25,5 million passengers last year.
Last year, there were almost 267.000 flights going in and out of Schiphol Aiport - an increase of 17 percent compared to 2020, but a drop of almost 50 percent compared to 2019.
Schiphol wasn’t the only airport in the Netherlands to see an increase in travellers in 2021; airports in Rotterdam and Eindhoven also saw a notable increase in the number of travellers compared with 2020. Last year, Rotterdam The Hague Airport served approximately 800.000 passengers, while Eindhoven Airport served 2,7 million.