Two adjacent cargo buildings at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will lose direct access to the apron in the future. This is likely to affect tenants needing freighter parking capacity mainly.
According to a passage in Schiphol Group’s annual report the apron will be used to provide passenger aircraft stands in the future, resulting in extra capacity. WFS is one of the smaller tenants
in the complex, consisting of freight stations 5 and 6.
The first-line cargo handler has a pharma warehouse in the premises and will be able to keep it, says Marc Claesen, Regional Vice President based in Brussels. Directly affected could be Dnata,
which is the largest tenant in the building and dependent on freighter parking place. According to the trade paper Nieuwsblad Transport Dnata’s lease does not expire until 2023.
Schiphol-Zuidoost
Together with KLM Cargo’s freight stations 1, 2 and 3 the two warehouses concerned (5 and 6) are among the oldest at the airport, at Schiphol-Centrum. For quite some time, Schiphol Group has
planned the relocation of the cargo business to Schiphol-Zuid-Oost, already home to ground handling agents Swissport, Menzies and WFS.
If through-the-grapevine information is to be believed, Dnata could be excellently accommodated there as well, utilizing a plot for which KLM has had an option for several years. It would help
Dnata and not harm KLM Cargo since the airport’s home carrier does no longer need direct freighter apron access, as it is concentrating on belly cargo. It could easily be relocated to the
opposite side of the road, observers hold.
In the past, KLM was rather unwilling to move its cargo business from Schiphol-Centrum to Schiphol-Zuidoost. Rumours will also have it that the national freight carrier prefers to act cautiously
as to its relocation. Through their space blocking attitude they want to prevent additional low cost passenger airlines flocking to Amsterdam, intensifying competition and putting pressure on air
fares.
Marcel Schoeters in Brussels
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