Travel/leisure

Schiphol Airport is bracing for a busy summer season, expecting to welcome more than 12.7 million passengers between early July and late August, up from 12.4 million during the same period last year. The airport anticipates handling an average of 219,000 travellers per day, with daily departures and arrivals both forecast at 71,000, alongside 77,000 daily transfer passengers. Holidaymakers flying through the Dutch hub are largely heading to traditional hotspots, with Spain, the United Kingdom, and Greece topping the list of most popular destinations.

Public transport services in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague are gradually returning to normal after a morning strike. Operators warn that full schedules may take several hours to restore. Travellers are advised to check updates before setting out.

A technical malfunction has brought air traffic at Eindhoven Airport to a standstill. Several flights have diverted to Rotterdam, while others face delays or cancellations. The airport has not yet said how long the disruption will continue.

A new NS discount pass offers people the opportunity to travel unlimited during off-peak hours for 49 euros per month and was introduced at the request of, among others, Progressief Nederland, due to the rising energy prices caused by the Iran war.

The Dutch Cabinet is preparing to slash funding for the construction and maintenance of roads, waterways, and rail networks to plug multi-billion-euro deficits, sparking critical decisions over which national projects will be shelved. Despite the looming budget cuts, State Secretary Annet Bertram has signalled that urgent repairs to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam high-speed line and the rollout of the new European railway safety system (ERTMS) remain "absolutely vital" priorities that are unlikely to be axed. To cushion the blow of these reductions, Infrastructure Minister Vincent Karremans is exploring alternative funding routes, including private sector financing and European subsidies.

A majority in the Dutch house of representatives support a motion to reroute an existing Eurocity to Eindhoven and introduce a second hourly high‑speed train between Rotterdam and Brussels, aiming for better connectivity without raising fares.

Dutch Railways (NS) will notify travelers when the discounted summer ticket promotion is about to expire, helping prevent passengers from unintentionally rolling over into a more expensive subscription.

National railway operator NS has repaired an IT malfunction that locked passengers out of their personal accounts on Tuesday. The system failure was triggered by overwhelming website traffic following the launch of a government-funded 49-euro summer travel subscription. Although the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management allocated 118 million euros to subsidise the off-peak discount, the sheer volume of buyers congested the webshop and overwhelmed the digital infrastructure.