Amsterdam’s poor traffic performance continues, but better news ahead?
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol reported another weak set of traffic figures for Jun-2009, handling 3.9 million passengers, down 12.4% year-on-year. Cargo volume was down 24% to 100,226 tonnes - a similar result to the previous month. Cargo volume for the six months ended 30-Jun-2009 is down 26.7% to 589,072 tonnes, while passenger numbers are down 11.2% to 20.1 million.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol passenger number growth and cargo volume growth:
Some new entrants
The only bright spot is the introduction of some new services to the airport this month. Belavia is launching three times weekly Minsk-Amsterdam service on 10-Aug-2009 with CRJ100-200/B737-500 equipment, while KLM added a fifth weekly St Petersburg frequency on 17-Jul-2009 with A320 equipment.
Air Arabia Maroc launched three times weekly Casablanca-Amsterdam service on 03-Aug-2009 with A320 equipment. Encouragingly, the airline plans to increase am frequency to daily by the end of Oct-2009.
But on the other side of the coin, OpenSkies is suspending Amsterdam-New York service (with B757 equipment) on 16-Aug-09, citing weak premium demand.
It is a case of one step forward, one back for Schiphol. As traditional markets and customers languish, the continued development of new routes to emerging markets will be crucial.