Transavia Cancels Over 200 Summer Flights Due To Capacity Restrictions In Amsterdam

Due to the daily limit on the number of #passengers allowed to transit through #Amsterdam #Schiphol Airport, #Transavia had to cancel 240 #flights this #summer.

Flights from Schiphol are been cancelled by Transavia.

The amount of travellers passing through Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport each day has been limited due to severe manpower shortages. Transavia had to cancel 240 flights in July and August due to this cap, which had an impact on 13,000 passengers.

Although many passengers are impacted, Transavia claimed that 70% of those clients would be given the option of a another flight at the same time. After the restrictions cease on August 28, the remaining customers will be able to request a refund or rebook for an other date.

"To avoid issues like the one currently being experienced, Transavia had already chosen to offer fewer tickets during the summer months. "This decrease in capacity affects a certain group of people. It aches. Both our firm and our passengers stand to lose a great deal from this. The forced reduction in passenger capacity is extremely undesirable and ought to be one-time only." - CEO of Transavia, Marcel de Nooijer

Despite the cap, KLM predicts that it won't have to cancel many flights. The majority of the reductions are the responsibility of KLM, the airline with the largest operation out of Schiphol. The airline thinks it can sell fewer tickets so that customers with current reservations are not impacted, rather than having to cancel numerous flights.

Other airlines are still formulating their plans on how to cut summer capacity. 150 flights operated by Corendon Airlines from Amsterdam Schiphol to Rotterdam, The Hague Airport in July and August. "All holidays booked on Corendon flights will continue in some fashion," according to Corendon.

The problems at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport have persisted for months, mostly due to a lack of personnel for baggage handling and airport security. The airport stated last week that assuming airlines filled every trip, there would be an excess of 13,500 passengers in July. According to the CEO of the airport, it is not the airport's responsibility to continue running during the peak summer months without taking action to address the big crowds and staffing shortages.

The reduction of summer schedules for a problem that was not even brought on by their shortfalls has angered airlines. According to KLM, the cost of fixing the airport's infrastructure is not the duty of those that use it structurally. Due to the commotion at the airport in May, KLM was forced to temporarily halt ticket sales. Earlier this month, the company cancelled all flights from Europe to Amsterdam, flying empty planes in their place.