Record number of travellers to and from Dutch airports in 2011

The number of travellers to and from Dutch national airports reached an unprecedented nearly 54 million in 2011. The volume of goods shipped through the air barely increased from 2010 to 2011. 

54 million air passengers

By the end of 2008 and throughout 2009, the global economic crisis was also manifest in aviation. Subsequently, the economy made a modest recovery in 2010. In 2011, air passenger transport grew by 11 percent to nearly 54 million travellers, i.e. a higher number than prior to the crisis.

Air transport to and from Dutch airports

Air passengers mainly travel through Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is by far the largest airport in the Netherlands. Over 92 percent of air passengers travel through Schiphol. In recent years, the share of Eindhoven Airport has grown considerably – from 2 to 5 percent – but this growth has hardly affected Schiphol.

With 2.7 million, the number of passengers travelling to and from Eindhoven Airport was almost four times as high in 2011 as in 2004 (700 thousand). Proportionally, Schiphol’s growth was less spectacular: from 42.4 to 49.7 million passengers.     

Passengers by airport (excluding Schiphol)

Growth air freight transport comes to a standstill

The growing number of air passengers is in sharp contrast with the very modest growth of air freight. Last year, 1.59 million tons of goods were shipped, a growth by less than 1 percent from 2010, but still 2 percent down from 2008.

Wick Schaafstra