In the last month of September 2018, 6.4 million passengers flew from, to or via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, meaning the number of passenger flights remained almost unchanged compared with the same period last year. As a result of an increase in average aircraft size (three more seats per air transport movement), the number of passengers transported grew by 2.2% compared to September 2017. The load factor was 86.9%, a fall of 0.2% compared to last year. The number of transfer passengers increased by 2.7%, whereas the number of passengers departing from or arriving at Schiphol increased by 1.9%.
Cargo
The number of cargo flights fell by 12.6% compared to September 2017. Due to a higher cargo volume on board of passenger flights and an improved load factor for cargo flights, the total volume of transported cargo was down by 3.0% compared to last year.
Passenger destinations
The number of passengers flying within Europe increased by 0.8% to 4.6 million, while the number of passenger flights within Europe decreased slightly compared to September last year. Poland saw continuing strong growth (passenger numbers up by 18.5%), with Iceland also continuing to gain in popularity (+17.6%). Passenger numbers to Mediterranean countries (Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta) were down slightly.
The month of September saw a 0.2% increase in the number of flights to intercontinental destinations, carrying 5.9% more passengers. Passenger numbers to China grew rapidly (+12.0%). There were fewer flights to Japan and Iran than before, resulting in lower numbers of passengers flying to these destinations.
