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Amsterdam Schiphol Eyes “Seawards” Expansion

Passenger traffic is peaking at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), something that has Dutch transport authorities contemplating an expansion of the facility. While nearby LEY was initially chosen to handle overflow from AMS, problems with expanding the former facility have put the focus back on AMS.

With passenger traffic figures up, it seems that expansion is on the cards at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), reports The Blue Swan DailyThe outlet states that, according to comments made by Dick Benschop, the CEO of Royal Schiphol Group – the body which owns and operates the facility – the nation’s transport authorities are looking into expanding the facilities “seawards.”

This descriptive, however, does not necessarily mean that the future of AMS lies in the North Sea. Rather, the outlet clarifies that “What it probably means is extending the airport to the west, an area which is not as built up as to the east and the north, and which is in the direction of the sea, some 15 km (nine miles) away.”

The discussion of expansion at AMS is timely; in addition increased passenger figures, because of a dearth of jet bridges at the airport, the facility has had to curb the quantity of widebody craft it can handle during certain hours of the day.

Due to this issue, nearby Lelystad Airport (LEY) had been chosen to handle some of the services from AMS in order to take pressure off of the facility. However, LEY is currently a general aviation facility and expansion here has been slowed by concerns over the impact that this process could have on the local environment.

With the growth of LEY postponed, attention has turned back to what can be done to expand facilities at AMS.

Voicing his support for expansion at AMS, Benschop was quoted as saying that, “We are open to it.” The country’s transport authorities also seem eager to make a swift decision on the matter; expansion plans are due to be submitted to the Dutch House of Representatives next month.

[Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]

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