Schiphol Airport is taking a pragmatic approach to flight capacity limitations while continuing to work to protect freighter flights by lobbying to ring-fence slots for cargo aircraft.
Speaking to Air Cargo News, Schiphol head of cargo Joost van Doesburg says that the hub will remain an important place for freight despite reaching capacity in terms of the number of flights it can handle.
He points out that in 2023 cargo volumes at the airport declined at a lower rate than many of its rivals in what was a difficult year for air cargo.
However, he adds that the slot limit of 500,000 would put the number of all-cargo aircraft flights under pressure.
He says there is a “slow decline” in the number of freighter flights – pointing out that in January 2024 there were 1,307 freighter movements compared with 1,327 a year earlier, a drop off of 20.
