The May holidays are just around the corner and Patricia Vitalis, Schiphol’s operational director, expects smoother security clearance due to the purchase of new scanners.
The largest airport in the Netherlands purchased 53 scanners and will welcome 25 more until the summer. Unlike the current one X-rays Travelers now stand with their arms down at their sides instead of up. “From now on it will be hands down at security,” Vitalis said Algemeen Dagblad. ‘You can just keep your hands at your sides.’ The new scanners are already being used at other Dutch airports, including Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport.
Advantages of scanners
Compared to its predecessors, the new one X ray a lot less error-prone. In addition, the scanner can analyze within three seconds whether someone needs to be searched, a favorable prospect in the run-up to the May holidays. On average, 70,000 travelers are expected at Schiphol per day. If the transfer passengers are added, this amounts to 198,000 people.
Measures to avoid crowds
In previous years, the crowds during both the May and summer holidays resulted in large queues for security. In recent years, Schiphol, in collaboration with a number of parties, including the Royal Military Police, has examined how queues can be reduced. New employees have been recruited at security and Schiphol shares data with the Royal Military Police to better estimate where extra hands are needed at the airport. The age for the independent passport scan has also been lowered to a minimum of 14 years. Previously it was 16. Despite this, according to Colonel Jeffrey van Horn, Schiphol coordinator at the Royal Military Police, the queues are not yet a thing of the past. “With such gigantic numbers, this is sometimes unavoidable,” he says.
