Surprise shaking in one of the busiest airports in Europe. Luggage left on the plane or not on board. Over 100 canceled flights and thousands of passengers involved
The Dutch authorities have asked passengers not to go to Amsterdam airport due to the wild strike by ground staff which resulted in cancellations, delays and too many travelers in the building. For this reason, the police have also blocked the main road entrances. “The terminal is too crowded and we are doing everything possible to keep the situation manageable”Schiphol’s airport manager explains in a note. “We invite customers to stop coming to the airport”, is the appeal. “This is an extreme and very annoying measure that we are forced to take for safety reasons. Travelers are encouraged to contact their airline.
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What’s up
The strike by ground service personnel, starting with those handling baggage, occurs in a peak period for Holland with hundreds of thousands of people who have booked a holiday between April and May outside the country. The employees of KLM – the main national company – they stopped working because they criticize the working conditions and so thousands of baggage were not handled and checked in the holds of the airplanes not only of KLM, but also of other companies that rely on its services such as Air France or Delta Air Lines. According to the latest numbers in Amsterdam-Schiphol, half of the baggage every day is handled by KLM ground staff.
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The numbers
The impact is enormous. According to the data provided to Courier 478 departing and 475 arriving passenger flights are expected from the specialized Airline Data Hub platform on 23 April in Amsterdam, for a total of almost 166,000 seats made available. This turmoil caused the cancellation of at least 127 flights at the airport (departing and arriving) according to FlightAware data. Even KLM has so far had to cancel 124 flights, more than a fifth of those scheduled for Saturday 23 April.
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The requests
The strike was not authorized by the trade unions. Those who have crossed their arms are asking for a salary increase and less workloads. In the terminal of one of the busiest airports in the world and the third in Europe, you can see halls with thousands of people waiting to see if they will be able to board or not. From the airport they also explain that thousands of suitcases remain in the holds of planes coming from abroad and therefore in the airport there are also travelers who have disembarked from the aircraft, but are waiting to take possession of their suitcases.
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April 23, 2022 (change April 23, 2022 | 15:37)
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