Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport may only be Europe’s fourth largest, but it has to be among the best in terms of the amenities it offers both leisure and business travelers. It makes its competition both here and abroad look like dressed up bus stations.
The difference at Schiphol, which has been operating at the same location for 91 years, is its emphasis on passengers. Other airports make that claim, but Schiphol seems to deliver.
Schiphol has a design element a lot of other airports around the world seem to be lacking: the fast egress of passengers, whether to other flights or out of the airport. It is built on a one-terminal concept, but what a huge terminal it is.
On top of trailing only London, Paris and Frankfurt among European airports, Schiphol is also the fourth largest train station in The Netherlands. “We are the biggest of the smallest airports,” said Gerda J. Franssen, aviation marketing manager of marketing communications. “You can reach more destinations for the north of England from Schiphol than you can from London Heathrow,” she added.
It’s a busy place. More than 400,000 flights take off and depart from Schiphol annually with more than 46 million passengers involved; 40 percent of those transfer to other airports. By comparison, Bradley International Airport handled 6.9 million passengers in 2006.
Passengers First
This is an airport built on passenger comfort. Just below a Rijksmuseum gallery is a business offering chair massages. There are resting areas where passengers can put their feet up between flights and relax in a dark, quiet space that features a large screen flashing images of Holland. Parents will appreciate the nursery where they can feed, change and rest their infants. There is also a meditation center with a chapel.
A casino is located inside the airport, as well as an Irish pub. There is an in-terminal hotel that offers a short-stay option. It’s called the Mercure Schiphol Terminal, but book your room in advance. The months of July and August were already booked at the hotel that has only 33 rooms, which start at $115 per night (based on June 5, 2007, exchange rates provided by the hotel).
There’s no shortage of shopping opportunities both before and after passport control. There are 23 different types of stores available from jewelry to shoes to electronics and more. The airport also has a wide variety of restaurants.
Not Just For Planes
Give Schiphol credit for a sense of humor, too. In one men’s restrooms, posters of windmills hang over the urinals that proclaim “Now you can tell your friends you saw windmills in Holland. You don’t have to tell them where.” Another suggests it’s possible to do something in the canals most health officials wouldn’t encourage.
“Schiphol is not just a landing site for airplanes,” said Gerbrant Corbee, who handles corporate communications and public affairs for the airport. “What you see here is a city but it has no inhabitants.” It’s not lacking for people, though, with more than 60,000 people working there 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With 269 destinations available from Schiphol, its real value for Connecticut businesspeople might be as a central meeting point. It has a World Trade Center with two hotels (a Hilton and a Sheraton) that can be used for meeting space. Corbee said it’s common for executives from companies with multiple locations throughout Europe to fly into Schiphol for one-day meetings and never leave the airport. Microsoft Europe and Citigroup recently opened headquarter space at Schiphol.
American visitors to Schiphol will be shocked to see an expansive outdoor patio that overlooks the tarmac. It’s a great place to take a stroll before a flight. It’s also the perfect spot for seeing aircraft from around the world. Longtime users of Bradley might remember a similar space at the Murphy Terminal. Since 9/11 such outdoor vistas have gone the way of the manual typewriter. When asked about it, Schiphol officials shrug their shoulders as if to say it doesn’t seem like a threat to aviation.
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