Schiphol (AMS, EHAM), the main intenational airport of the Netherlands and one of the largest airtransport hubs in Europe, has announced its Aalsmeerbaan runway to become a parking zone for both small and large aircraft.
The runway is, therefore, serving no flights - from March 28 and further for an uncertain period of time.
Nonetheless, the airport is open and a lot of airplanes can still be heard from neighborhoods in the vicinity. These are cargo flights, now more than usual due to medical supplies, but also passenger flights, including repatriation ones.
The airport keeps the highest level of service for the air traffic. Aprons and gates are allotted for the cargo flights, but there is no space for all of them to park once the cargo is handled.
The Aalsmeerbaan runway was actually chosen for this purpose due to its position, which is closer to the neighboring houses. The airport management, thus, preferred to keep using other runways for take-off and landing. Which exact runway - it will depend on various factors, such as safety, weather conditions, runway use rules and availability of course.
Airports and airlines worldwide are facing the parking problem for the aircraft unused, which pushed larger airports to make huge arcraft
The unprecedented situation and the crisis ensuing, over the coronavirus pandemic, has made no exception for Schiphol,
