This year, World Aviation Festival welcomed Royal Schiphol Group as its Official Airport Partner. During the event, Pieter van Oord, President & CEO, Royal Schiphol Group discussed the airport’s 6 billion EUR investment plan and its forward-thinking sustainability goals.
Joining for a brief interview, Pieter discussed tangible progress the airport is already seeing, noting reduced fuel consumption as a result of electrification which is bolstering commitment to becoming a zero-emission airport by 2030 and energy positive by 2050.
Breaking down the substantial investment plan, Pieter shared insight into the changes planned for the coming years, explaining approximately 50 per cent of the funding will be put towards essential repairs and maintenance to ensure operational excellence:
“Of the six billion about which is going to be invested in the next five years, we will invest about 50 per cent of that in what I would call repair and maintenance. But I’d like to make clear that we’ve not finished after five years, we probably have to invest a similar sum of money in the in the years following.”
The remaining 50 per cent will include some visible improvements that passengers will be able to spot for themselves:
For the [rest], what we are going to do is improve the quality of the airport. How we do that is, for instance, we have a large investment ongoing at the moment in lounge one and we’re going to fully renew it, this will be an entirely new experience for our passengers […] and we have just made an major investment decision to build a new baggage system a baggage basement…”
Watch the full interview for more details.
Questions asked include:
- You have said before that Schiphol wants to position itself as a leader in sustainability, what are some steps you are taking to ensure this?
- Can you give a rough overview of the 6 billion EUR investment plan for the airport? Are you able to clarify on the timeline of when we can expect to see some of the larger projects take shape?
- Previously you said that “learning from other airports is in [your] DNA.” How did this mindset inform your decision to partner with World Aviation Festival as our Official Airport Partner this year?
For more from onsite at World Aviation Festival 2024 see:
- Sustainability “next steps” with Pittsburgh International Airport’s CEO
- Sun Country Airlines CEO shares the “secret sauce” to remaining profitable amid industry challenges
