Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has suffered a considerable loss over 2009, CEO Jos Nijhuis told the press on Tuesday. The airhub is seen as the economic motor of the Amsterdam area, but spokespeople are talking down the economic impact of the poor figures. Some 43.5 million passengers used the airport last year, which is 8.4 percent down on 2008 - the steepest fall ever.

The number of flight movements at the airport fell by 8.7 percent last year to 391,000. This is blamed on the economic crisis and by the environmental tax the Dutch government imposed on air tickets.

Cargo traffic was hurt most, suffering an 18.4 percent fall to 1,279,000 tonnes.

Optimism
The airport is optimistic, however, about prospects for the current year, forecasting an 0.6 growth in passenger transport.

Schiphol spokesperson Mirjam Snoerwang told NOS public radio,
"You have to make sure you remain competitive. So we are glad that the environmental ticket tax which was introduced last year has been scrapped by the government. It really affected our results in the past year. We also hope that the security charge that passengers are paying will not increase."

The government is only footing part of the airport's 240 million euro bill for security.

Body scanners
It was announced on Monday that Schiphol is purchasing another 60 full-body scanners following the failed attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit by a Nigerian man. The airport currently possesses only 15 scanners to screen passengers. At 150,000 euros each, the scanners will set the airport back 9 million euros.