Schiphol director’s job up in air following chaos at airport

The future of Schiphol CEO Jos Nijhuis is uncertain ahead of a crucial meeting on Monday evening with caretaker junior infrastructure minister Sharon Dijksma and KLM CEO Pieter Elbers over the passenger queuing chaos at Amsterdam’s airport over the past few weeks.

The delays have cost KLM millions, the Telegraaf reported on Monday. KLM maintains that the delays could have been prevented if the Schiphol airport authority had adequate passenger handling equipment, a sufficient number of aircraft gates, taxiing routes and terminal space.

The Dutch aviation sector is vital to the economy and makes important that parties operating at the airport work well together, the Telegraaf said. ‘The position of Nijhuis is slowly becoming untenable,’ said anti-immigration party PVV MP Dion Graus. ‘We never supported his policy,’ he said.

Last Friday, Forum voor Democratie, a right-wing newcomer to parliament called for the Schiphol director to be sacked and forced to return his €300,000 bonus for 2016.

Critics say the waiting time backlog is the result of unbridled growth, marketing bonuses and the airport’s failure to invest in adequate infrastructure to handle the thousands of extra passengers.

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