Number of passengers travelling through Dutch airports breaks 60 million barrier

For the first time in history, the number of passengers travelling through Dutch airports broke the 60 million barrier last year; 90 percent of them travelled through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The number of passengers travelling through Eindhoven Airport also increased substantially. Today, Statistics Netherlands announced in de Kwartaalmonitor Luchtvaart that - among the large airports in Western Europe - Schiphol is the fastest grower.

Record number of passengers handled in 2014

For the first time in history, more than 60 million passengers travelled through Dutch airports last year, i.e. an increase by nearly five percent relative to 2013. The number of commercial take-offs and landings grew by only three percent in the past year. This trend has been going on for years. The use of bigger airplanes and a higher seat occupancy rate per flight play a part in this respect.

With 90 percent of total air passenger transport, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is still the most important airport in the Netherlands. Over the past half decade, the total number of passengers transported through Schiphol has risen by 26 percent to 55 million in 2014.

Share passengers travelling through Eindhoven Airport growing

Eindhoven Airport has been the fastest growing national airport in the past five years. The share of passengers travelling through Eindhoven Airport has grown from 3.7 percent in 2009 to 6.5 percent in 2014. One of the reasons for the increase from 1.7 million to 4 million passengers in the past five years is that the amount of destinations from Eindhoven Airport has more than doubled. Most of these new destinations are situated in Italy, Poland and Spain.

Schiphol fastest grower within Western Europe

Among the largest airports in Western Europe, the number of passengers transported through Schiphol grew most rapidly. The number of passengers travelling through Schiphol increased by 26 percent in 2014 relative to 2009. Frankfurt Airport accounted for a growth rate of 16 percent and London Heathrow Airport and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris both accounted for 11 percent. In recent years, Schiphol has also shown the highest growth. The lower take-off and landing fees airline companies have to pay at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol contribute to this development.