02 Aug 2023 at 00:00
Passenger planes are taking off and landing at Dutch airports more often and they are also fuller. In the second quarter of this year, almost nineteen million passengers were involved. That is 9.3 percent more than last year.
This is evident from figures from Statistics Netherlands. The large increase comes after the corona period, during which much less was flown. “We are coming from a valley. And now in 2023, even fewer people are hesitant to fly than last year,” says Marjolijn Jaarsma of CBS.
For example, in the second quarter of 2020, only 880,000 people flew through Dutch airports. Aircraft were also often emptier. An average of 81 of the 100 seats are now occupied. That is comparable to the period before corona.
We do fly even less than before the pandemic. In the years 2017 to 2019, the number of passengers in the second quarter exceeded twenty million. Jaarsma cannot say whether we will go there again. “That also depends on any shrinkage plans of Schiphol.”
Busy Schiphol good for the majority of air traffic
The vast majority of passengers who travel via a Dutch airport do so via Schiphol (16.4 million). This is also a busy airport from a European perspective. Only Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was served by more passengers in 2022.
After Schiphol, most people fly via Eindhoven: 1.9 million passengers in the second quarter. Here, too, 6 percent more passengers took off and landed than last year. More people also took the plane at Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Groningen Airport Eelde.
Less passengers and freight only in Maastricht
The number of passengers fell only at Maastricht Aachen Airport. Due to the renovation of a runway in May and June, 67 percent fewer passengers were able to fly through the airport.
Due to the closure in Maastricht, the amount of freight via airports also decreased nationally. That happened by 8.7 percent to 347,000 tons. Normally about one tenth of the air freight goes through Maastricht Aachen Airport. The rest goes via Schiphol.
2023-08-01 22:00:33
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