The replacement for Schiphol boss Jos Nijhuis will be a man whatever happens, the Volkskrant reported on Friday.

The airport group would prefer a new male CEO otherwise there would be more women than men on the four-strong board, the paper said, quoting an airport spokesman.

‘Currently the balance is two and two. Schiphol is aiming to keep that balance,’ the spokesman said.

The job description for the new boss also indicates that a man is preferable and Nijhuis himself has referred to his successor as ‘he’, the paper said.

When Nijhuis started out, the entire board of the Schiphol airport group was male. The chair of the supervisory board, which will name his successor in consultation with the shareholders, is also female, the paper points out.

Nijhuis had been due to step down in the first quarter of this year and his successor is due to be named this month but the selection process has not yet been completed.