KLM Scraps More Flights Amid Amsterdam Schiphol Labor Turmoil
(Bloomberg) -- Flight cancellations at Dutch airline KLM have surpassed 225 in the past few weeks as its Amsterdam Schiphol hub is hit by labor shortages and industrial strife.
The Air France-KLM unit is in discussions with the airport about service levels this weekend, a spokesman said Thursday. That follows 75 cancellations last weekend amid a lack of airport security personnel, cleaners and other personnel, and the loss of 150 KLM flights over four days from April 23 due to a strike by the carrier's own ground staff.
“Passengers should not be the victims of the personnel problems at Schiphol,” KLM said. “Additional cancellations are no long-term solution to solving the staff shortages.” The airport didn't respond to requests for comment.
Disruption isn't limited to the Netherlands, with airlines and airports among companies hardest hit by the roiling of labor markets during the coronavirus pandemic as millions of people lost their jobs, were furloughed or moved to new posts. The U.K. has been especially hard hit, with lines at Manchester airport stretching for hours into the street over Easter and British Airways trimming its timetable through the end of May to confront a labor squeeze.
KLM said it's in talks with Schiphol about compensation and plans to discuss the situation further once the May holiday season is over.
The FNV union said things could worsen without an agreement on working conditions, with many employees likely to quit just as passenger numbers buoyed by the easing of travel curbs surge toward the summer peak.
“We do not expect the staff shortage to be resolved before the summer, but we do expect the quality of employment and the wellbeing of current employees to be protected,” FNV campaign leader Joost van Doesburg said Wednesday.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
