Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is currently facing a major labour shortage as activity is strongly recovering after several poor months due to the health crisis. On Thursday, Schiphol officials asked airlines to cancel some of their flights and stop taking new bookings until the end of the May holiday on Sunday 8.

Barin, the organisation of airline representatives in the Netherlands, will claim around one million euros in compensation. Some airlines had agreed to cut flights in order to ease the workload of Amsterdam airport staff, including the largest KLM which cut 47 flights, but that did not prevent the formation of many queues from Friday to Sunday at Schiphol.

On Monday, the president of Barin, Marnix Fruitema, estimated at one million euros the financial compensation that his organisation will seek from the authorities for these cancellations.

The airlines themselves are receiving claims from bumped passengers. Over the weekend, more than 700 passengers filed 329 damage claims with claim organisation EUClaim against KLM for cancelled flights. EUClaim estimates the compensation amount at around 200,000 euros so far and expects it to increase in the coming days as more claims come in.