Concerns about long queues at Schiphol

The head of Schiphol airport says staff shortages and faulty automatic gates may lead to hour-long queues for security checks at peak travel season, from late April.

Jos Nijhuis, chief executive of Schiphol told the Telegraaf: ‘Despite our urgent requests to the ministry of security and the military police, there are still no solutions to staff shortages and failing gates for automated passport scanning.’

He proposed that the military police, responsible for border controls, should be diverted back to this task instead of performing other jobs. ‘Perhaps the increased threat of terrorism could be partially transferred to other police or armed forces,’ he added.

A spokeswoman from the security ministry told the Telegraaf that they were ‘in talks’ with military police and the airport, but could not suggest any concrete measures to reduce waiting times for airport users in the holiday season.

Nijhuis said the problem would be particularly acute in non-Schengen areas in the airport, where passengers have to show their passports – which would include, for example, travel to the UK. ‘If it doesn’t flow properly, there are also queues in the central security lanes. Travellers who have to transfer will also be negatively affected.’

He added that if political concerns about refugees and terrorists mean lockdowns on the Schengen area – where people can cross European borders without checks – this would be disastrous for the flow of travellers.

Schiphol expects to see more than 60 million travellers this year, a new record, and growth of 5% on 2015. In the longer term, it needs to be able to cope with 85 million.