KLM says no May flights cancelled due to Schiphol passenger caps

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, said on Wednesday it would not have to cancel any flights during the May vacation period as a result of passenger caps imposed by Schiphol airport in light of labour shortages.

However, a spokesperson for the company said KLM would be obliged to sell fewer tickets on the Dutch market.

"It is disappointing that Schiphol is now forced to limit the number of departing passengers on peak days during the May holiday, albeit on a small scale," the company said.

On Tuesday Schiphol said it would allow 66,000 passengers to depart daily during the May vacation period.

That is an increase from 40,000 at present, but still below 2019 levels. The airport said that meant 5% fewer flights could be booked than airlines would have liked on peak travel days.

The airport suffered from long lines and delays during much of 2022 due to shortages of security staff, baggage handlers and ground crews.

Schiphol, now under new management, says it and various other companies at the airport have made steady progress in hiring staff.

However private security firms are still short several hundred workers and labour unions have warned shortages and growing discontent over pay among baggage handlers could lead to new problems this summer.

KLM, which says it suffered more than 300 million euros ($319.35 million) in lost revenue in 2022 as a result of the problems at Schiphol, said it had taken into account remaining possible shortages in its own staff as part of its network planning.

"We want to emphasise that it is of the utmost importance that all parties at the airport continue to work on the recruitment of staff, so that travellers can travel with confidence in the long term," the KLM spokesperson said.

($1 = 0.9394 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Jason Neely and Shounak Dasgupta)