Air Serbia ordered to reduce Amsterdam capacity by 28%
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has issued Air Serbia with an order to reduce its capacity on each flight departing the Dutch city for Belgrade by 28% this July. The measure came into force this Thursday and will run until August 1, although the airline has already warned the policy will be extended into August as the airport faces an unprecedent shortage of staff and is unable to properly handle departing flights. As previously reported, the order has angered Air Serbia, which maintains nine weekly services between Belgrade and Amsterdam with its A320-family aircraft. It has threatened to take legal action against the airport operator.
Amsterdam is one Air Serbia’s more popular destinations which sees a notable number of transfer passengers. Its inbound service sees solid feed from the United States and Canada, with travel from the two countries to Serbia peaking during this month. As a result of the new measures imposed by Schiphol Airport, Air Serbia no longer has any free seats available on flights from Amsterdam until the end of the week, with no free capacity available on July 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 21 either. Few seats remain available on July 11 and 13 with one-way tickets priced at over 600 euros. “When it comes to another airline, which relatively recently, after a thirty-year hiatus, established twice daily flights between Belgrade and Amsterdam, it will have an advantage, bearing in mind that it is Schiphol Airport’s hub carrier and therefore has various options available to adapt to the reduction in the number of seats to its needs. We believe that this seriously violates the principles of competitiveness of the two airlines that fly on this route”, Air Serbia said, referring to KLM.
Air Serbia noted the restrictions are causing it “great financial and reputational damage” due to the number of booked passengers who can’t be re-accommodated. "The situation is further complicated by the fact that other airlines are facing similar capacity restrictions, so it is difficult to redirect overbooked passengers to flights of other airlines from Amsterdam", it said. Affected travellers are being offered to change their travel dates without extra fees, depart from Brussels or Dusseldorf instead, or choose a refund. Air Baltic has also publicly confirmed it has been forced to cut the number of available seats on its flights departing Amsterdam. Schiphol has been among the airports hardest hit in Europe by shortages of security staff and other workers as travel demand rapidly rebounds. Last month it capped summer passenger numbers almost 20% below usual levels to avoid the chaos of last-minute delays and cancellations, leading to KLM and easyJet cancelling hundreds of flights.
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