The number of flights to and from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol rose slightly by 0.7% in December. On average, the number of seats per flight in December was two more than last year. As a result, 5.4 million passengers travelled to, from or via Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in December of this year, representing an increase of +2.2% compared to the previous year.
Cargo
The number of cargo flights decreased by 87 (-7.5%) compared to December of last year, totalling 1,075. The tonnage of cargo transported decreased by -8.1% compared to December of last year. While the amount of air mail transported did grow in comparison with last year (12%), in absolute terms, the size of this transport flow is extremely small in comparison with the cargo market.
Passenger destinations
December saw 3.7 million passengers travelling to and from European destinations (+2.9%). Within Europe, mainly in Great Britain, Portugal and Spain continued to gain in popularity. However, the number of passengers to Turkey decreased (-5.5%) compared to last year, partly due to the departure of AtlasGlobal airlines.
The number of intercontinental passengers at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol grew (+1.3%) to a total of 1.7 million. Despite a decline in the number of passengers travelling to Africa and Asia, this development was offset by the other continents. Asia saw the most significant decline (-7.3%) due to the departure of Jet Airways. The number of passengers travelling to the Middle East grew sharply in relative terms (+11). However, in absolute terms, the number of passengers travelling to and from North America grew by over 30,000 passengers (+6.0%) to a total of 550,494.
