BARCELONA (Agefi-Dow Jones)–Airline KLM said on Friday it was taking steps to comply with a passenger limit imposed by Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, but was holding the operator responsible for its inability to solve its capacity problems.
The company owned by Air France-KLM has already spread its flights over the day in order to solve the problem, which is due to a shortage of security personnel at the airport. KLM will now take additional measures, including limiting the number of tickets available to people boarding in Amsterdam during the summer peak from July 6 to August 28, a spokeswoman said.
KLM does not expect to have to make many cancellations of existing flights.
On Thursday afternoon, Schiphol Airport, which is 69.77% owned by the Dutch state, announced that it would limit the daily number of travelers who can leave Amsterdam airport during the summer. The group said it faces a shortage of security personnel due to a tight labor market.
“In the outlook for the period from July 7 to July 31, there are on average 13,500 too many seats each day compared to the safe capacity,” Schiphol Airport said. Although not all of those seats have been sold, some flights will have to be cancelled, he added. “Setting a limit now means that the vast majority of travelers will be able to travel from Schiphol in a safe and responsible manner,” the airport continued.
KLM said that, while it is cooperating with efforts to resolve this problem, it considers the mandatory traffic reduction “very detrimental” and believes that this solution should be “exceptional” and limited to the “short term”.
“KLM holds Schiphol responsible for the financial impact of these measures,” the company added.
-Cristina Roca, Dow Jones Newswires (French version and contribution Julien Marion) ed: LBO
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June 17, 2022 07:52 ET (11:52 GMT)