Nearly 80 million air passengers in 2018

In 2018, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol exceeded the 70 million-threshold for the first time with 71 million arrivals and departures, up from the 68.4 million travellers handled in the previous year.
The number of arrivals and departures at Schiphol has seen year-on-year growth since 2009. Aircraft movements (take-offs and landings) increased by 0.5 percent to well over 499 thousand in 2018. This is just below the maximum ceiling set by the Alders Platform covenant dating from 2008, which stipulates that Schiphol Airport can only have a maximum of 500 thousand movements per year until 2020.

Nearly 11 percent meer passengers at other domestic airports

The other national airports processed over 8.6 million passengers in 2018, an increase of 10.8 percent relative to 2017. Of these passengers, 6.2 million flew via Eindhoven. Compared to 2017, this airport had 9.4 percent more travellers last year. More than 1.9 million passengers travelled via Rotterdam The Hague Airport, almost 10 percent up on the previous year. Maastricht Aachen Airport recorded the strongest growth at over 64 percent. The number of passengers handled by Groningen Eelde Airport rose by over 13 percent. Maastricht and Groningen handle relatively few passengers: only 0.6 percent flew via these airports.

Relative to 2008, nearly three times as many passengers checked in and out at the other national airports. The share of these four smaller airports in the total number of handled air passengers stood at 6 percent in 2008, versus nearly 11 percent in 2018.

Minor decline in air cargo transport

In 2018, the volume of cargo transhipped at Dutch airports was slightly over 1.8 million tonnes, 0.3 percent down on the previous year. At Schiphol the volume declined by 2.5 percent to 1.7 million tonnes. This decline is partly due to the lower number of slots available for the freight sector at Schiphol.
Air cargo transport increased at Maastricht Aachen Airport to 125 thousand tonnes or 44 percent. This sharp rise is partly explained by the fact that airlines have fewer possibilities of landing at Schiphol Airport and need to fly to other European airports, including Maastricht Aachen.