Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) has grown to be one of the largest airports in Europe, welcoming 66.8 million passengers in 2024, making it the fourth busiest airport on the continent. It will not rest on its laurels since in August 2024, the airport announced a multi-billion investment program to improve its operations and make it more sustainable.
IATA/ICAO Code
AMS/EHAM
IATA Code
AMS
ICAO Code
EHAM
City
Amsterdam
However, the airport has been at the heart of a political tug-of-war. Despite the second Dutch government collapsing in two years, the maximum number of arrivals and departures from/to Schiphol airport could be slashed to up to 478,000 due to noise, while recently, the airport lost its nature permit due to nitrogen storage requirements, which could also result in another messy legal battle. Nevertheless, Schiphol Airport remains the key gateway to the Netherlands, and Simple Flying explores its current status as well as its future.
One Of The Largest Airports In Europe In 2024
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According to the Royal Schiphol Group’s annual 2024 report, with the company also having stakes and/or controlling interests in several other Dutch and international airports, including the lease of Terminal 4 at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in 2024, Sciphol Airport welcomed 66.8 million passengers in 2024.
As such, the Dutch capital’s airport was ranked fourth in Europe, just behind Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), Istanbul Airport (IST), and London Heathrow Airport (LHR), with 70.3 million, 80 million, and 83.9 million passengers during the year, according to data provided by the Dutch company. In addition, with the Royal Schiphol Group citing Airports Council International (ACI), the airport ranked second in direct connectivity in Europe and fifth in hub connectivity in the world. According to Pieter van Oord, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Royal Schiphol Group, the airport saw a stable recovery of operations following its post-pandemic struggles with queues.
“Almost 67 million people travelled by plane to, from, or via Schiphol, an increase of 5 million compared to 2023. Half of the Dutch population aged 18-80 years made one or more flight trips per year. This underlines the importance of our airports for society and provides us with more room to focus on the future and to invest — in happy travellers, happy neighbours and happy employees.”
Dominated By KLM And Transavia?
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Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool showed that, in 2024, the largest airline at the airport was KLM. The Dutch carrier scheduled a total of 255,030 departures and arrivals from/to Amsterdam Schiphol, or 55.2% of flights at the airport. Air France-KLM group’s low-cost carrier Transavia, under its Dutch air operator’s certificate (AOC), had another 29,868 departures and arrivals at the airport in 2024, making it the third-biggest airline at Amsterdam Schiphol in 2024. The second-largest carrier at the airport in 2024 was easyJet, which scheduled 36,192 flights from/to the Dutch capital’s main gateway.
2025’s schedules showed that easyJet will actually shrink at the airport, reducing its flights at Amsterdam Schiphol by 5.5% year-on-year (YoY), while KLM and Transavia will expand their schedules from/to the airport by 1.8% and 4.7%, respectively. Transavia France, which, as the name suggests, has a French AOC, began flying between Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Orly Airport (ORY) on March 30, with Cirium’s Diio Mi showing that it will continue to do so at least until March 27, 2026. Other airlines that had not operated flights from/to Amsterdam but will do so in 2025 include, but are not exclusive to, IndiGo, Oman Air, and WestJet. The Indian low-cost carrier has not only planned to launch flights to the Dutch capital on July 2 – using wet leased Norse Atlantic Airways Boeing 787-9s – but also announced a partnership that includes Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic, which leverages the quartet’s onward connectivity at Amsterdam Schiphol and Manchester Airport (MAN).
In June, airlines have scheduled 440 routes from the airport, including one-stop itineraries, such as KLM’s flights from Amsterdam to Georgetown Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO) with a stop at Saint Martin Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM). The most popular connection from Amsterdam in June is actually to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN), with Vueling, KLM, and Transavia scheduling a whopping 106 weekly departures to the Spanish airport during the month. This equates to up to 17 flights per day! The second-busiest route is to London-Heathrow with 104 weekly departures. Flights to the British capital’s main gateway are operated by British Airways and KLM, with 51 and 53 weekly departures, respectively. In third place, it is Dublin Airport (DUB), with Aer Lingus, KLM, and Ryanair scheduling 95 weekly one-way flights to the Irish airport.
The most popular intercontinental routes in June, meaning those that land outside of Europe, are to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), with the former two airports leveraging KLM and Delta Air Lines’ partnership in the Blue Skies joint venture (JV). The JV has been monitored by the European Commission (EC), which had been concerned about JetBlue’s ability to obtain historic slots to fly from/to Amsterdam Schiphol, with the Commission saying that it was ready to intervene with interim measures to safeguard competition on flights between Amsterdam and New York, for example. Previously, JetBlue called on the Department of Transportation (DOT) to limit KLM’s flight approvals to fly to the United States due to its inability to obtain slots at the Dutch airport, withdrawing its request once it had the rights to land and depart Amsterdam Schiphol on a continuous basis.
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Tendency Of Upgauging At Amsterdam Schiphol
Photo: minhanphotos | Shutterstock
However, as the Royal Schiphol Group pointed out in its annual report, with the airport already very close to hitting its potential 478,000 annual flight movements since Schiphol welcomed 473,815 flight movements in 2024, the company observed “a tendency among airlines to use larger aircraft to accommodate more passengers.”
According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, airlines, primarily KLM and Transavia, added over 17,590 total flights with the Airbus A321neo in 2025 compared to 2024, while 737-800 flights, for example, went down by 5,432 YoY, resulting in almost 1 million fewer seats departing and arriving into Amsterdam Schiphol in 2025. On the widebody front, airlines removed thousands of flights with 777 and A330 aircraft subtypes, while adding flights with the A350 or the 787 aircraft families.
Overall, airlines flying from and to the airport added over 3 million seats in 2025 compared to 2024, despite the net increase in scheduled departures and arrivals, which does not account for cargo movements, being 6,419, per Cirium’s Diio Mi. Over 1.5 million seats on the 737 Next Generation (NG) aircraft were cut from the airport’s schedules. According to ch-aviation data, Transavia, which has been upgrading its 737 NG aircraft to the A321neo, now has nine of the latter, while KLM has eight A321neo aircraft in its fleet.
Royal Schiphol Group highlighted that as part of its new airport charges, which were cleared by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) on June 4, it will incentivize the usage of quieter aircraft at the airport in order to reduce noise. When it introduced the growing charges on October 31, 2024, the company managing the Dutch capital’s airport said that: “newer, quieter aircraft will pay less and older, noisier aircraft will be charged more.”
Future Of Amsterdam Schiphol Linked To Noise
Photo: minhanphotos | Shutterstock
Noise has been the main point of contention between the airport and residents living near Amsterdam Schiphol. When the Dutch government finalized its plans to reduce flight movements from/to the airport in December 2024, it said that the cap of 478,000 annual aircraft movements would reduce the number of people seriously inconvenienced around the airport by 15%, with another 5% being reduced later on.
In response to the December 2024 decision, Royal Schiphol Airport said that its goal was to maintain a fair balance between the airport and its neighbors, once again highlighitng that, as part of its new airport charges hike for between 2025 and 2027, “the use of the noisiest aircraft will become significantly more expensive, while operating the quietest aircraft will become more financially attractive.” This should have “substantial impact” on the type of aircraft airlines opt to fly from/to Amsterdam Schiphol, the group stated.
At the time, Barry Madlener, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands, said that while he does understand that some residents wanted to see more drastic cuts, these would have been drastic measures for airlines flying out of Amsterdam Schiphol. “I am convinced that we have achieved a good balance with this decision.” However, while the Dutch will elect a new government in October, the EC has already outlined that even though the Dutch government “largely followed the correct procedure, the Commission identified some shortcomings.”
According to the EC’s statement on March 4, the plan only addressed the noise emitted by commercial aviation, and not general and business aviation from the measures, even though they also contribute to the noise. “Furthermore, the Commission found that the Netherlands has only partially considered the potential of fleet renewal to reduce aircraft noise,” and the Dutch government failed to consider innovative landing and navigation techniques to reduce noise at Amsterdam Schiphol.
