Corona takes care of many new arrivals at Schiphol
Travel restrictions and lockdowns to curb the coronavirus forced airlines to reduce flights, is the story of 2020.
In April, Dutch aviation reaches its low point with only 147 flights on 12 April (of which 129 from Amsterdam) compared to over 1600 flights (of which around 1400 from Amsterdam) in 2019. For KLM, this means more than 90% less capacity and only twenty-seven flights on 13 April.
Schiphol has closed most of the piers and almost all of the unused gates have aircraft parked for long periods of time.
The KLM blue and Transavia green making way for airlines that we seldom see here, Air Seychelles, Azul and LATAM passenger aircraft. And although they are often passenger aircraft, the seats on board remain empty. The aircraft are used for mostly medical cargo.
Companies such as Swiss, British Airways, Egyptair, United Airlines and American Airlines have continued to fly at Schiphol, but are now using the largest aircraft with large cargo hold areas.
The KLM 747 fleet was originally planned to be retired by the end of 2021. That changed when the coronavirus pandemic hit the Netherlands, and KLM accelerated its schedule. The last landing of an operational KLM Boeing 747 was in the evening of Sunday 25 October with the 747-406M PH-BFW “City of Shanghai”.
