Number of air passengers increased by 4 percent in Q3 2024

In general, the majority of flights are operated in the third quarter, as well as passengers carried. It is the holiday period for schools and workers in the construction sector. August was the busiest month in Q3 and of the whole year so far, with 49.2 thousand flights and 7.4 million passengers.

Monday 29 July and Monday 5 August were the busiest days of the third quarter, when 252 thousand passengers passed through one of the Netherlands' five major airports. The quietest day was Friday 19 July, when 198.4 thousand passengers travelled to and from the Netherlands.

On Wednesday 28 August, an outage at Eindhoven Airport resulted in 65 percent fewer flights and 70 percent fewer passengers than on an average day in August this year.

Three-quarters of air passengers travel within Europe

Travelling to and from Spain is the most popular at three of the five airports

Schiphol the second most popular airport in the EU

Over 87 percent of flights to and from the Netherlands were handled by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Q3 2024 (127.3 thousand). The majority of passengers (18.7 million) travelling to and from the Netherlands also passed through this airport, and the total number of passengers was up by 5 percent on Q3 2023.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was the second-largest airport in the European Union (EU) after Paris Charles de Gaulle, with 61.9 million passengers in 2023. That year, Madrid and Frankfurt were ranked third and fourth among airports in the EU. Of the 10 busiest airports, Fiumicino (Rome) saw the largest increase in passengers, up by 38 percent on 2022.

Of the larger non-EU European airports, Istanbul Havalimani (Turkey) and London Heathrow (United Kingdom) were the largest with 76.0 and 79.2 million air passengers, respectively.