Chaotic scenes at Schiphol: 450 flights delayed, 75 flights cancelled amid staff shortage

Staff shortages at Schiphol Airport’s security checkpoints caused hours-long lines on Monday, affecting thousands of airline passengers traveling through the second busiest airport in the EU. Hundreds of flights were facing delays ranging in duration from a few minutes to several hours, and dozens of flights were cancelled. A Schiphol spokesperson said, “Currently it is indeed a busy day at the airport. That’s mainly because there was less security staff available than planned.” He added that the airport was trying to provide water, and to make it possible for people to use a bathroom if they needed to step out of line. With people waiting in line for hours, some passengers have been unable to reach their gates before the final boarding call. “When many of the passengers are still waiting in line, an airline may decide to delay a flight so more people can get on the flight,” the airport spokesperson said. Some 297 departures were delayed since the start of airport operations on Monday, according to an inspection of the website at 3:50 p.m. Another 152 arrivals were also running behind schedule. Airlines cancelled 35 departures and 40 arrivals, with gate changes also announced for many other flights. Schiphol’s own monitoring service referred to Monday as a peak day for departures, and also a busy day for arrivals.<br/>