Dutch airlines continue to cancel flights due to staff shortages

The Dutch aviation industry continues to be affected by market-wide staff shortages. Issues at KLM and Transavia, as well as the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, are leading to more and more flight cancellations and delays.

Transavia staff shortage — 2% of Transavia flights cancelled between April and October 2022

On May 20th 2022, the Dutch airline Transavia announced that in the period from April to October 2022, 2% of their flights will have to be cancelled. Tens of thousands of Transavia passengers will be impacted by these cancellations.

Transavia is forced to cancel their summer flights mostly due to staff shortages, an issue that is affecting the whole industry. The staff shortages at Transavia are especially bad due to many of the airline's employees moving to Transavia's parent company, KLM. At KLM, employees can work on more long-distance flights, with a stay abroad period between flights.

Tom van Bokhoven, Flight-Delayed.co.uk’s CEO, commented on this news last Friday during an interview on a Dutch TV channel RTL.

KLM staff shortage — 12 KLM cancelled flights last Sunday

Staff shortage seems to be a spreading disease among Dutch airlines. Two days after Transavia’s announcement of summer flight cancellations, its Dutch parent airline KLM had to cancel 12 flights on Sunday, one of the busiest days for air traffic. Those cancellations concerned flights within Europe and were in addition to the 42 previously cancelled flights.

KLM has been suffering from staff shortages for months, but the summer season makes the issue even more visible. Despite a recovery trend within the aviation industry, KLM has now fewer flights departing and arriving from Amsterdam Schiphol.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport — staff shortages at one of the busiest European Airport

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is also suffering from staff shortages. Last Monday, passengers waited up to 6 hours to go through security. The airport staff is doing their best to accommodate the passengers waiting in long queues (for example, by offering them refreshments) but the situation remains chaotic.

Amsterdam Schiphol's issues began at the end of April, right before the Dutch May holidays. Despite the promises to improve the situation, the airport's management still struggles with hiring and training new staff members. Due to the current staffing situation on the market, Schiphol's issues will likely affect the whole 2022 summer season.

Delayed or cancelled flight? Get compensation and a refund!

According to the EU Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, passengers experiencing flight delays or cancellations can claim compensation up to £520 and/or a refund.

The amount of compensation depends on the flight distance: 

• Delayed flight — when can you get compensation? You might be eligible for flight compensation when your flight was delayed by more than 3 hours.
  
• Cancelled flight — when can you get compensation and refund? You always can claim a refund in the event of a cancelled flight as long as you don’t take an alternative flight offered by the airline. To be able to claim compensation for your cancelled flight, the cancellation needs to be announced fewer than 14 days before departure.

The airline could deny you compensation in the event of extraordinary circumstances, such as bad weather or a terrorist threat.

Did you experience a flight delay or cancellation due to Amsterdam Schiphol issues? Check your flight and claim now — you might be able to get compensation up to £520!

Claim now

Useful links

• More details on delayed flight compensation
• More details on cancelled flight compensation
• Post-Brexit flight compensation rules in the UK
• Rules regarding missed flight compensation
• Rules regarding flight compensation in the case of denied boarding
• Claim Calculator — check if you are eligible for compensation