Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has lost almost 14% of its cargo volumes over the first six months of 2022. This was revealed at a press conference about the semestrial results. The figures were revealed last Friday (26AUG22) at a press briefing by the management.
According to Chief Financial Officer, Robert Carsouw, the decrease in cargo tonnage (720,000 tons) was due to the combination of the exceptionally high volumes over the first semester of 2021 (837,000 tons, which was an increase of 27,7% compared to 2020), reinforced by the ban on AirBridgeCargo (ABC) operations.
President & CEO, Dick Benschop said that ABC was a very huge customer for Schiphol Airport and had represented up to 40% of the volume handled. Of course, ABC had still contributed to the
airport’s volume during the first 2 months of 2022.
Part of the 162-million-euro investment program carried out so far this year, was the construction of the new Cargo Warehouse 17, which will be leased by dnata. CFG reported.
Assessing the impact of the slot reduction on cargo
Regarding what impact the 60,000-slot reduction being introduced by the government and due to commence in November 2023, will have on the airport’s cargo operations, Mr Benschop said that this
issue has been going on for a long time.
“In times of scarcity, some airlines decided to abandon their full freighter slots in favor of their passenger operations. We were busy setting up a system of slot reservation for cargo
operations, but we met with resistance from both The Hague and Brussels.”
“The slot reduction may possibly affect the cargo business, so we will be negotiating with Air Cargo Netherlands and the authorities on how to guarantee this operation.”
Looking back on the first semester, Amsterdam had no end of trouble in its passenger business, in which security control staff were unable to cope with the increased number of travelers.
Marcel Schoeters in Amsterdam
We welcome and publish comments from all authenticated users.
Write a comment