Amsterdam Airport Schiphol plans for its biggest investment ever worth €6 billion

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) have announced an investment plan worth €6bn, the biggest in the airport’s history. The investment will be used to improve working conditions and services towards passengers and airlines, with development happening over the next five years.

“Our investment plans of €6 billion in the next five years are larger than ever before and fundamental to achieve this. Realising our ambitions require a significant step-up and acceleration of our operational cash flows, without losing focus on our competitiveness,” said Chief Financial Officer, Robert Carsouw.

What will this project bring?

This project is following from previous communicated investment plans from 2023, with plans of improving the airport facilities.

Improvements of the quality of service will be:

• Renovating Lounge 1 by expanding parts of the lounge, adjusting walkways and expanding the range of services
• More than 200 walkways and lifts are being renewed over the coming years, and 18 passenger bridges will also be replaced
• Renovating Pier C, which dates back to 1967. This includes improvements in technology, systems, sustainability, spatial layout and seating
• Baggage system and new baggage basement. Large sections of the current baggage system are due to be replaced, Building is expected to commence in 2026.

Improvements in the quality of work will be:  

• Over the coming years, 136 rest areas and 224 toilet blocks for employees are going to be renovated.  
• Schiphol is taking measures to reduce the emissions of diesel and jet engines and to limit the exposure of employees to these emissions.

Why are they implementing these plans now?

CEO Pieter van Oord, stated that: “Our infrastructure is the foundation of our service, but is currently far from what we want to offer our passengers as a quality airport in the Netherlands. We have a major investment plan of €6bn because it is crucial to bring back passenger satisfaction and top service to our airlines. At the same time, we need to restore the balance between the benefits and burdens of Schiphol. We are and will remain committed to reducing our noise impact on our surroundings and to improving the working conditions of all employees at our airport.”

There were 230,417 air traffic movements at AMS so far this year. A 12% increase compared to the first half year of 2023 (206,198 air traffic movements) yet still 5% below 2019 pre COVID-19 air traffic movements (242,107). Cargo volumes at AMS increased by 9% to 0.7 million tonnes.

The underlying net result for the first half year of 2024 amounted to 99 million euros compared to 44 million euros for the first half year of 2023. In the first half year of 2023, the net result was 15 million euros.

The monthly traffic numbers of 2024 are increasingly coming towards the pre COVID-19 levels. On peak days during the May and summer period, there were more departing passengers than in 2019. For the full year 2024, Schiphol expects total passenger numbers at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to be between 65 and 68 million. The expected number of flights for the full year is between 470,000 and 473,000. A further increase in passenger numbers is expected as the average number of passengers per aircraft will continue to rise.

These interim results show that AMS is on to the path to financial recovery from COVID-19, and that these airport investment plans for expansion will be sufficient in handling the increase of passengers.