20 million air passengers in second quarter, up 6 percent

Four of the Netherlands’ five major airports saw more passengers in Q2 2024 than the same period in 2023. The total number of air passengers was 20.1 million, compared to 19.0 million in the same period last year. The only airport where passenger numbers were almost unchanged was Groningen Airport Eelde.

Schiphol handles 87 percent of flights to and from the Netherlands

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol accounted for 87 percent of both the total number of flights and the total number of passengers transported to and from the Netherlands in Q2 2024. The number of flights rose to 122 thousand in Q2 2024, up by more than 6 percent compared to one year earlier. The number of air passengers also rose by over 6 percent in that period to 17.4 million.

Although there were over 100 fewer flights to and from Rotterdam The Hague Airport compared to the same period last year (a fall of 2.2 percent), the number of passengers carried actually increased by 1.4 percent to 633 thousand.

Almost 67 thousand passengers travelled through Maastricht Aachen Airport in Q2 2024. The number for the same period last year was 19 thousand because the runway was closed for upgrade work between 8 May and 30 June 2023. This is evident in the flight numbers: in Q2 2024, there were 1.2 thousand flights to and from Maastricht, compared with 386 in the same period of 2023.

More air freight carried

The volume of air freight transported to and from the Netherlands recovered in Q2 2024, following a dip in 2023. At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport, the only two Dutch airports that handle freight, a total of 372 thousand tonnes was handled in Q2 2024. That was up by 7.1 percent compared with the same period in 2023. Almost 97 percent of total air freight was handled by Schiphol.