Low-cost British Airways does this because of the large crowds in Schiphol, where the airline is one of the largest users.

A spokeswoman said passengers have been notified and the vast majority booked for another flight on the same day. It does not specify exactly the number of flights and passengers.

EasyJet said last month it had no plans to cancel flights during the height of summer. But in Schiphol, frantic consultations with the airlines are currently taking place. EasyJet reports that it is “ongoing” in talks about an operation approach this summer.

voluntarily, of your own free will

The airport said earlier that the aim of these discussions was to reach agreements “on a voluntary basis” to ease the burden on the airport. If that fails, Schiphol does not rule out the possibility of forcing airlines to cancel flights.

easyJet does not wait for the latter. “We believe that mandatory restrictions on the number of flights are not possible or desirable, as other measures can also be taken and airlines bear their own responsibility.”

EasyJet has a total of nine aircraft and 300 local crew members stationed in Schiphol. The airline does not fly from other airports in the Netherlands, and therefore does not see transfer flights to smaller airports in the country as an option.

unwanted

Things are different in Transavia, TUI and Corendon, and they seem to be more open to moving flights. They are so focused on vacationers that canceling flights is really out of the question. Transavia emphasizes that “cancellation is really undesirable”. TUI sees it the same way, since canceling flights will mean people who have already booked can no longer take their holidays.

In a conversation with the National Ports Agency earlier in the day, Corendon CEO Stephen van der Heyden was already ready to move flights to other airports in the region. He is still discussing this with Schiphol.

The CEO also noted that the situation in Corendon is very different from that of KLM, which has already decided several times to cancel many flights. “If you have a large network with many switches, you can still redistribute everything a little bit,” Van der Heijden said. “But with us you leave in Schiphol and land in Schiphol. This is something really different.”