Amsterdam Schiphol handled fewer flights in the first six months of 2026, yet its owner insists appetite for travel has not weakened, a message that matters to the thousands of UK companies routing staff through the Dutch hub every week.

Royal Schiphol Group, which also operates Eindhoven and Rotterdam The Hague, described the drop as a “temporary decline” driven by the Middle East crisis. Across its three airports the group handled 37.3 million passengers between January and June, up 0.3 per cent year on year. Schiphol itself slipped marginally to 32.7 million, from 32.8 million in the first half of 2025.

Pieter van Oord, CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, said: “Demand for aviation remains high, even during a period of geopolitical uncertainty. This underlines the importance of strong international connectivity for travellers, businesses and the Netherlands.”

Fewer flights, fuller aircraft

The number that will interest anyone booking connections is flight movements. Schiphol handled 223,597 flights in the half-year, a 4 per cent fall on 2025, while average passengers per flight rose. In practice that means less choice of departure times on some routes, and busier cabins on the ones that remain.

The group expects that pattern to persist. “This development confirms the expectation that passenger numbers will continue to grow, even with the same number of flight movements,” it said in its half-year report. “Airlines are renewing their fleets and using larger and quieter aircraft. Schiphol expects passenger numbers to increase to at least 90 million passengers per year by 2050.”

Two shocks shaped the period. Severe winter weather forced the cancellation of thousands of flights early in the year, a disruption that left passengers stranded across six days of chaos at Schiphol. The Iran war followed, doubling jet fuel prices and putting pressure on airline networks and on volumes to and from the airport.

A discount that cost €37 million

Schiphol’s response was to cut its airport charges by 10 per cent on a temporary basis from April. Traffic recovered in the second quarter, though the move cost the group €37 million in lost revenue.

Robert Carsouw, the group’s CFO, said: “To keep Dutch aviation strong, we continue to keep the right balance between affordability and connectivity. That is why we introduced a temporary discount on airport charges for airlines in response to the sharp rise in kerosene prices.”

Charges feed directly into ticket prices, so the discount is one reason fares out of Amsterdam did not climb as steeply as fuel costs alone would suggest. Whether it is extended is a live question for travel managers building budgets for 2027.

The flight cap is still coming

The Dutch government remains committed to capping Schiphol at 478,000 flights a year on noise grounds, despite the Supreme Court ruling the policy legally “unsound” in March. Ministers are drafting fresh regulations to answer the court’s objections. With movements already running below that ceiling, the immediate effect on schedules is limited, but the cap sets a long-term ceiling on how many services can be squeezed into the airport.

Financially the group had a solid half. Revenue rose 5.6 per cent to €1.33 billion and net profit gained 3 per cent to €207 million, figures published in its half-year financial reporting. Investment ran to €801 million so far this year, part of the €10 billion renovation programme running from 2025 to 2035.

That spending is the part travellers will notice. Work in 2026 has covered the long-delayed Pier A, now due to open in 2027, extra electricity capacity and what the group calls “catching up on overdue maintenance”. Building sites and diverted walking routes are likely to remain a feature of the airport for some time, so anyone with a tight connection at Amsterdam should still build in slack. Those already navigating longer queues from the EU’s new entry-exit checks will want to allow more.