Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport, is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province of North Holland.
In 2025, it was the world's fifth-busiest airport by international passenger traffic. With 68.8 million passengers, it was the fourth-busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume and the third-busiest in terms of air transport movements. With 1.43 million tonnes of cargo, it was the fifth-busiest in Europe by cargo volume in 2025.
Schiphol Airport covers a total area of of land. The airport is built on the single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three departure halls.
Schiphol is the principal hub for KLM and its regional affiliate KLM Cityhopper, as well as for Martinair. The airport also serves as an operating base for Corendon Dutch Airlines, easyJet, Transavia, TUI fly Netherlands, and Vueling.
Schiphol began operating as a military airfield on 19 September 1916. The end of the First World War also saw the beginning of civilian use of Schiphol Airport, and the airport eventually lost its military role completely. By 1940, Schiphol had four asphalt runways at 45-degree angles. The airport was captured by the German military that same year and renamed . The airport was destroyed by bombing, but at the end of the war, the airfield was soon rebuilt. In 1949, it was decided that Schiphol was to become the primary airport of the Netherlands.
Description A record 71,706,999 passengers passed through Schiphol in 2019. Passenger traffic subsequently fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and had not returned to the 2019 record by 2025, when the airport handled 68.8 million passengers.
Schiphol was connected to 300 destinations worldwide in 2025. Connecting traffic forms a substantial part of its passenger traffic: 36.6% of recorded passengers in 2025 were transfer passengers, while 43.6 million passengers had Schiphol as their airport of origin or destination. In Schiphol's traffic statistics, transfer passengers are counted both on arrival and on departure on their connecting flight.
The airport is built around a single-terminal concept, with one terminal complex divided into three departure halls that are connected airside. The terminal and piers have been expanded and renovated repeatedly as passenger traffic and aircraft requirements have changed.
A new pier, Pier A, is under construction and is expected to enter service in April 2027. The pier will have eight gates, including three capable of handling the largest aircraft types. Schiphol's longer-term master plan includes a new Terminal South and the phased renovation of Piers B, C, D and H/M, while retaining the single-terminal concept.
History
Origins and early years
The name Schiphol predates the airport by several centuries. It is recorded as Sciphol in 1447, in a description of land in the jurisdiction of Aalsmeer. Its precise etymology is uncertain.
Dutch linguist and toponymist Moritz Schönfeld associated the name with the local Schipholsloot. He noted that Middle Dutch hol could denote the depth or bed of a ditch or watercourse, and that the adjective hol could also mean low-lying or marshy. Schönfeld described the name as passing from the local settlement to Fort Schiphol and subsequently to the airfield. Maas later considered two analyses of Schiphol possible: if divided into separate elements, hol may refer to low-lying, marshy terrain; alternatively, the name may have described a hollow parcel of land by comparison with a scheepshol, the interior or hull of a ship.
Several other explanations have circulated. B. J. Hekket proposed that schip in place-names could carry a meaning such as "branches" or "timber", an interpretation he also applied to Schiphol. Maas rejected this derivation, finding no evidence that schip had ever carried the proposed meaning and describing Hekket's interpretation of the Scandinavian linguistic evidence as incorrect. Popular accounts have also associated the name with ships supposedly lost in the former Haarlemmermeer and with scheepshaal, referring to the hauling of ships between bodies of water. These explanations are not established by the specialist etymological sources cited above.
Before the reclamation of the Haarlemmermeer, the site of the later airport lay beside the lake and partly within the area subsequently reclaimed from it.
After the lake was dredged in the mid-1800s, a fortification named Fort Schiphol was built in the area, which was part of the Stelling van Amsterdam defence works.
Schiphol was established in 1916 as a military airfield; the first military aircraft landed there on 19 September of that year. Scheduled civil aviation began on 17 May 1920, when KLM's inaugural service from London landed at Schiphol. In its early years the airfield was unpaved and frequently muddy. French pilots consequently nicknamed it Schiphol-les-Bains ("Schiphol bathing resort").
The Fokker aircraft manufacturer established its Dutch factory in Amsterdam-Noord in 1919, rather than at Schiphol. A Fokker hangar was built at Schiphol in 1924, where aircraft manufactured in Amsterdam could be assembled and operated. Military use of Schiphol continued alongside the developing civil airport until 1923, when the military left the airfield.
By 1940, Schiphol had four asphalt runways at 45-degree angles, all or less. One was extended to become today's runway 04/22; two others crossed that runway at . The airport was captured by the German military that same year and renamed . A large number of anti-aircraft defences were installed in the vicinity of the airport, and fake decoy airfields were constructed in the vicinity near Bennebroek, Vijfhuizen, and Vogelenzang to try to confuse Allied bombers. A railway connection was also built. Despite these defences, the airfield was still bombed intensively; an exceptionally heavy attack on 13 December 1943 caused so much damage that it rendered the airfield unusable as an active base. After that, it served only as an emergency landing field until the Germans themselves destroyed the remnants of the airfield at the start of Operation Market Garden. At the end of the war, the airfield was quickly restored: the first aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, landed on 8 July 1945. (2009)
A new terminal building was completed in 1949, and it was decided that Schiphol was to become the primary airport of the Netherlands. The expansion came at the cost of a small town called Rijk, which was demolished to make room for the growing airport. The name of this town is remembered in the name of the present Schiphol-Rijk industrial estate. In 1967, Schiphol expanded even further with a new terminal area at its current location. Most of the 1967 terminal is still in use today (Departure Halls 1 and 2), as are parts of the original piers (now called C, D, and E). Dutch designer Benno Wissing created signage for Schiphol Airport, well known for its clear writing and thorough colour-coding; to avoid confusion, he prohibited any other signage in the shades of yellow and green used. The new terminal building replaced the older facilities once located on what is now the east side of the airport. The A-pier (now C-pier) of the airport was modified in 1970 to allow Boeing 747 aircraft to use the boarding gates. A new pier (D, now called F) opened in 1977, dedicated to handling wide-body aircraft. The first railway station at the airport was opened in 1978.
Development since the 1990s
The construction of a new air traffic control tower was completed in 1991, as the existing tower could no longer oversee all of the airport, as it was further expanded. Departure Hall 3 was added to the terminal in 1993, as was another pier, G-pier. New wayfinding signage was designed that year as well by Paul Mijksenaar. A sixth runway was completed at quite some distance west of the rest of airport in 2003 and was nicknamed the Polderbaan, with the connecting taxiway bridge crossing the A5 motorway. The distance of this runway means that taxiing to and from this runway can take between 10 and 20minutes. It also required the construction of an additional air traffic control tower, as the primary tower is too far away to oversee this part of the airfield.
On 25 February 2005, a diamond robbery occurred at Schiphol's cargo terminal. The thieves used a stolen KLM van to gain airside access. The estimated value of the stones was around 75million euros, making it one of the largest diamond robberies ever.
Later in 2005, a fire broke out at the airport's detention centre, killing 11 people and injuring 15. The complex was holding 350 people at the time of the incident. Results from the investigation almost one year later showed that fire safety precautions were not in force. The investigation led to the resignation of Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner (CDA) and Haarlemmermeer mayor Fons Hertog. Spatial Planning Minister Sybilla Dekker (VVD) resigned as well because she bore responsibility for safety failings cited in the report.
As passenger traffic recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial air transport in 2022, Schiphol experienced severe operational disruption amid shortages of security and other airport staff. Long queues developed, flights were cancelled and the airport imposed limits on the number of departing passengers during the summer because of the shortage of security staff. Schiphol Group chief executive Dick Benschop resigned in September 2022 amid the disruption.
In 2024, Schiphol saw an 8% increase in passenger traffic and an 8.2% rise in cargo volume compared to 2023. Also in 2024, Royal Schiphol Group announced a €6 billion infrastructure investment plan, the largest in the airport's history. Planned improvements included the renovations of PierC, Lounge1, the baggage system, and passenger walkways, lifts, and bridges. The Lounge1 expansion was completed by November 2024, with 5,000 square meters of additional passenger space and a new plaza.
Infrastructure
Terminal
Schiphol uses a one-terminal concept, where all facilities are located under a single roof, radiating from the central plaza, Schiphol Plaza. The terminal is divided into three sections or halls designated 1, 2, and 3. The piers and concourses of each hall are connected so that it is possible, on both sides of security or border inspection, to walk between piers and halls, although border control separates Schengen from non-Schengen areas. The exception to this is the low-cost pier M: once airside (past security), passengers cannot access any other areas.
In 2025, Schiphol had 227 aircraft stands, of which 91 were connected to the terminal and 136 were remote stands. The airport adopted a distinctive design, with the second jetway extending over the aircraft wing, hanging from a steel cantilever structure. Gradual refurbishments have seen these jetways replaced with a more conventional layout, with the last two taken out of use in November 2024. Three gates have been modified to accommodate the Airbus A380. Emirates was the first airline to operate scheduled Airbus A380 services to Schiphol, beginning in August 2012. China Southern Airlines also operated the type on its Beijing–Amsterdam route before retiring its A380 fleet at the end of 2022. Emirates currently operates the A380 at Schiphol twice daily.
Notable public artworks in the airport include the Schiphol clock by Maarten Baas, in which a man behind a translucent screen appears to paint the minutes of an analog clock by hand.
Departure halls and piers