Since the beginning of May, the largest airport in the Netherlands has been facing a cruel lack of employees to manage the influx of travelers. The situation is tense and the unions are threatening a final strike. In France, the summer season promises to be just as tricky.
But what happens at the airport from amsterdam ? For almost a month, the city’s airport, one of the busiest in Europe, has been in the grip of a monster chaos. Canceled flights, endless queues, fights between passengers, Amsterdam-Schiphol is congested because of a shortage of security personnel.
On social networks, travelers share their annoyance at the difficulties the airport has in managing the flow of travelers. Without reinforcement, the employees exhausted who handle the check-in and check-in of hand luggage can’t take it anymore. So much so that the unions are threatening the management with a “full-scale” strike next week.
The FNV, the airport’s majority union, denounces that “something must change, we can’t go on like this. If we don’t have an agreement, we will start with industrial action on June 1, including work stoppages”, relays BFMTV.
We can indeed see several videos where passengers are forced to wait outside the airport to be able to check in. Others miss their flight after arriving several hours before check-in. Tensions between passengers even lead to fights.
Today in Amsterdam…. and meanwhile, the CEO of Schiphol airport is at the economic forum in Davos?\ud83c\udffb pic.twitter.com/EqWzdYm9f4
— FO Air France (@FO_AF) May 23, 2022
“Enormous difficulties” in France
But this situation does not spare other European airports. As BFMTV reminds us, airport platforms from Orly and of Roissy–Charles de Gaulle face “enormous” recruitment difficulties while 4,000 positions are to be filled, announced the CEO of Groupe ADP Augustin de Romanet.
@schiphol. Today people waited for 6+!! hours in the que. Children, elderly people in babies without water, food or the change to go to the toilet.
Yesterday you said 3 hours would be enough because it’s monday, what a lie, we missed our flight and have to sleep at the gate! pic.twitter.com/tcxDgVlZYJ
— P-ter (@Petorator) May 23, 2022
“What concerns us is the good experience of the passenger and in particular in the screening inspection posts. And today, companies are having a lot of trouble recruiting. We are looking for maintenance technicians, engineers but also in security professions such as in shops, duty-free, restaurants or even bars”, he worried.
Ticket sales suspended
This Thursday, May 26, the Dutch company KLM announced the suspension until Monday of ticket sales for all flights departing from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
The Dutch branch of the Air France-KLM group has said that it will also offer its customers with a ticket for a flight scheduled within the next three days solutions to modify their program.
These provisions do not bode well for other European airports which also have to deal with the lack of staff and the difficulties in recruiting. Transavia Netherlands, the Dutch subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group, was thus forced to cancel 500 flights.
The start of summer and the resumption of traffic worries unions and airport parton who had not anticipated such a “vigorous” summer season, explains CGT general secretary Daniel Bertone.
