First air passenger drop since Covid as snow, war hit Schiphol

Over 16.2 million air passengers traveled to and from one of the five Dutch airports in the first quarter of 2026, more than 2%less than in the same period in 2025, according to figures by statistics agency CBS.

This is the first time the Netherlands has seen a quarterly decline in both flights and passengers since the coronavirus pandemic.

The first quarter of 2026 saw 115,00 commercial flights take off, compared to 121,000 a year earlier.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled in the first half of January due to the heavy snowfall in the Netherlands. From the 1st to the 10th of January 2026, 1.2 million travellers were transported, more than a quarter fewer than in the same period in 2025.

Air traffic also reduced massively in March following the outbreak of war in Iran in late February, and the resulting closure of airspace in the region..

The CBS reported a total of 425 flights from Dutch airports to and from Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates combined; 60% fewer than in March 2025.

The volume of cargo transported by air increased by 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025. So far, most goods transported by air in 2026 were to and from China and the United States.

This amounted to 139.6 thousand tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, making up 37.4% of the Netherlands’ air freight and 10% more than in the same quarter in 2025.