The situation at Schiphol may have calmed down slightly over the last few weeks, but over the weekend holidaymakers once again faced excessively long queues as the airport suffered from a shortage of security staff.
Since the beginning of August, various steps taken by airport management have successfully alleviated some of the strain on workers. Not only have measures been put in place to cap the number of passengers travelling via Schiphol, but around 200 new members of staff started jobs in security at the start of the month. While these efforts didn’t completely eliminate the issues, they were successful in limiting the queues travellers faced.
Over the weekend, however, poor planning left holidaymakers frustrated as they once again were forced to endure queues of over three hours. A spokesperson for Schiphol explained that these queues were a result of a lack of security staff. A number of passengers took to social media to complain about the long wait, explaining that the queues meant they had missed their flights.
Airports across the continent have been facing a number of issues throughout the summer, but two Dutch airports - Schiphol and Eindhoven - have been amongst the worst affected. Since the May school holidays, Schiphol Airport has been suffering from high passenger numbers and a severe lack of staff, resulting in long queues at check-in, security, and passport control, as well as issues with baggage handling.
While the summer holidays are coming to an end, the airport expects it will remain busy for several months, and has already announced plans to cap passenger numbers in September and October.
Thumb: Fery Iswandy via Shutterstock.