“They may have to leave from another airport or join another flight. But I don’t expect travelers to be cancelled,” says Thomassen. “That’s different from July, when people were really disappointed,” he continues.
Slot coordinator ACNL calculates how the capacity reduction will be distributed among all airlines. “We will make those sums in the coming days,” says Thomassen.
According to him, reducing capacity at Schiphol does not necessarily mean that flights have to be canceled altogether. “Airlines can also, for example, now stop bookings for flights that are not yet full,” said the director. Thomassen also foresees that flights may be moved to other airports and that flights will be merged at destinations that are flown several times a day.
Rotterdam The Hague Airport has already announced this morning that it will not be able to take over flights from Schiphol this autumn, unlike the summer. This brings other regional airports into the picture, such as Maastricht Aachen Airport and Liège in Belgium. TUI has already moved flights to the latter airport.
