Amsterdam's Schiphol airport asked airlines to cancel flights this weekend in order to avoid the chaos caused by overcrowding at Europe’s third busiest airport. It said that it had made the request on Thursday.
According to the airport, it took the action because of staff shortages. The airport experienced major delays and cancellations on April 23 due to an unannounced strike by baggage handlers.
Schiphol stated in an email to Reuters that it had "asked airlines to reduce the number of local departing passengers this Saturday by cancelling bookings and refusing to accept new bookings from Schiphol during the period between 2 and 8 May."
It stated that "this is an annoying, but necessary, measure to reduce passenger numbers."
According to the airport, travellers should contact their airlines for specific flight information.
Schiphol could not be reached for comment regarding the number of flights that would be affected.
Dutch news agency ANP reported Friday that KLM (the Dutch arm of airline Air France KLM ) was expected to cancel several flights.
KLM could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.
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