LONDON – Icelandair is sending their own baggage handlers to Amsterdam Schiphol to reduce disruption caused by travel chaos at the airport.

The Information Officer of the airline, Ásdís Ýr Pétursdóttir, went into more detail about this:

“We have also been sending people ourselves out to smooth over the bag problems that have come up. Since last Friday, we have added two bag handlers to our crew to Amsterdam to speed things up and keep planes on time.” 

“We will have to see how it develops and whether we carry this on, and even maybe to other destinations. As I say, we are trying to find ways to reduce the effects of these delays and minimize disruption to the journeys of our passengers.”

“As the situation stands today, we are encouraging people to arrive early and first and foremost to be prepared for the fact that it can take some time,”

This was something originally trialed over the course of last weekend, but this has been extended to week-round flying.

On top of this, Icelandair has leased an extra aircraft, which is going to be used to provide cover for delayed services.

Continued Issues at Amsterdam…

Royal Air Maroc flights out of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport have also been affected by the chaos.

The latest carrier to withdraw from operations to and from Amsterdam Schiphol is the Moroccan national flag carrier, Royal Air Maroc. The airline issued the following statement on 8 July:

“Following the decision of the Amsterdam airport authorities (Netherlands) to reduce the number of flights and passengers departing from and arriving at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, some flights of the national carrier Royal Air Maroc, and like all airlines operating at this airport, will be affected.”

“In response to this situation, and in order to ensure the transport of a maximum of passengers, the flights AT850 and AT851 connecting Casablanca to Amsterdam (in both directions) will be transferred at Rotterdam airport instead of Amsterdam airport during the period from July 07th to 21st, 2022.”

“Additional measures will be taken If this situation persists beyond July 21st, 2022. Our customers affected by this change will be informed of all arrangements.”

“They will also be able to change the point of departure or destination within Europe, for the same date of travel and free of charge.”

The situation at Amsterdam airport adds to the various disruptions that airlines are currently going through, at most European airports.”

“Royal Air Maroc will spare no effort to provide real-time information and provide the most suitable solutions to facilitate the travel for its customers, particularly Moroccans around the world.”

As the holiday season closes in, there appears the be little relief to Schiphol’s transit woes.

A recent press release from the Airport notes that Schiphol anticipates an average of 59,000 local departures from the airport during the summer holidays.

The Airport has recently instigated its ‘Summer Action Plan’, which focuses on attracting staff and making working at Schiphol more attractive.

The intention is to improve the processes at the airport and focus on the number of passengers and flights that can be processed. The Airport facility claims that they have seen improvements.  

Whilst reducing the maximum number of locally departing passengers in July and in the first week of August, Schiphol and its security companies engaged in a recruitment drive to bolster numbers of security staff.  Approximately 200 new security staff are to be recruited.