Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (EHAM/AMS) has during the past couple of days faced one of its most challenging operational periods in recent memory. Since Friday, January 2nd, the airport has cancelled over 3,200 flights. Thousands of passengers have been stranded and the effect has been felt across the European aviation network.
Your flight has (probably) been cancelled
Flightradar24 departure and arrival statistics paint a grim picture of the disruptions faced at Amsterdam Schiphol during the first days of 2026.
- Friday, January 2: 345 cancellations
- Saturday, January 3: 384 cancellations
- Sunday, January 4: 569 cancellations
- Monday, January 5: 711 cancellations
- Tuesday, January 6: 563 cancellations
- Wednesday, January 7: 686 cancellations
At its worst on Monday, roughly 60% of all scheduled flights both inbound and outbound of Schiphol were cancelled. The Dutch flagship carrier KLM alone were forced to cancel a whopping 300 flights in a single day. The European air traffic management center Eurocontrol warned that up to 70% of Wednesday’s flights could be scrapped.
Why are so many flights being cancelled?
While heavy snowfall for multiple days in a row is the obvious main villain of this story, there actually is more to it.
1. De-icing bottleneck
Even a thin layer of ice on a wing can significantly affect lift which is why all critical surfaces of an aircraft must be completely free of snow and ice before takeoff. KLM operates a fleet of 25 de-icing trucks at Schiphol and is responsible for de-icing not only its own fleet but most aircraft at the airport. KLM’s de-icing teams have been using approximately 85,000 liters of fluid per day since Friday. This is extraordinary, leading to supplies depleting faster than they have been replenished. With the fluid sourced mainly from Germany, supply chain constraints have created a critical shortage that threatens to halt operations entirely.
2. Holdover time windows
The de-icing process involves spraying aircraft with a viscous fluid under high pressure to remove all snow and ice, while keeping it protected from new build up for a certain period of time. The heavier the precipitation, the shorter the time frame an aircraft has from the moment application of the fluid commences to its effect not longer being guaranteed. This window is referred to as holdover time. If an aircraft can’t depart within this crucial time window it must return for re-treatment.
3. Reduced runway capacity
Snow removal crews must continuously clear runways, taxiways, and aprons. In sustained heavy snowfall, this is a job that never ends. Have snowplow drivers felt like Bill Murray’s character in the film Groundhog Day on at least a few occasions? Probably. Besides the heavy snowfall, unfavorable winds have played a minor but noteworthy supporting role in Schiphol’s woes.
4. Limited ground support infrastructure
Unlike airports in regions accustomed to heavy winter weather (Stockholm Arlanda being one of them), Amsterdam rarely experiences conditions as severe as those seen over the past few days. While Schiphol certainly can operate during winter weather, the airport’s de-icing infrastructure obviously isn’t designed to handle a barrage of snow for multiple days in a row.
5. Network domino effect
Last but not least, disruptions tend to travel. Europe’s highly interconnected aviation network means that if an aircraft gets delayed or stuck in Amsterdam, later flights during the day will be affected. Airlines operating inbound Amsterdam hence can choose to cancel a flight simply because they don’t want to risk an aircraft being stuck there—as it could lead to further cancellations down the line.
Schiphol’s de-icing fluid debacle
On Tuesday KLM announced that de-icing fluid supplies were reaching critically low levels. And with no sticky juice available, operations might need to be suspended entirely.
One can only assume how diligently responsible parties have worked to solve this potential nightmare from becoming reality. Late last night, KLM announced that it had arranged emergency de-icing fluid supplies to be transported from suppliers. The first batch arrived earlier in the morning today, with further deliveries expected soon.
Still, KLM and multiple other airlines have proactively canceled hundreds of flights today. The latest numbers available to us at Flightradar24 reveal that 346 outbound and 333 inbound flights have been cancelled on January 7th, so far.
When will it end?
So, now to address the somewhat cold elephant in the room—when will we see an end to the current calamity at Schiphol? Assuming that the deicing fluid situation has been addressed, the main factor of Amsterdam’s woes unfortunately is beyond immediate human control. The latest TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) available for Amsterdam Schiphol Airport reveals that it will continue to snow throughout Wednesday, with a 30% chance of rain showers in the late afternoon and evening.
Travellers passing through Schiphol in the coming days should brace for continued disruption. Check with your airline for the latest updates, and bookmark Flightradar24’s always up-to-date arrivals and departures board.
23 Responses
I have been stranded here for 3 days and the customer service has been atrocious i appreciate that the weather is bad. They would not allow us our cases back and did not offer help the first two days. Running out of de icer is a poor excuse klm
Have a responsibility to customers. I dont understand how they allowed certain people there checked in luggage but Klm passengers were told NO !
We rebooked with American/British Airlines. Our flight out of Amsterdam was cancelled and rebooked out of Rotterdam. We were able to get out on Wednesday to London. Then home to the US.
Our flight out of Rotterdam was 2/3rds full!!! Not sure why others hadn’t been rebooked just to get them out of Amsterdam
I stranded for three days as well. Finally able to leave on Tuesday due to the fact that a hero from KLM, because he was for our flight, got a ladder out and checked the wings. No ice but only rain was on (our plane got inbound before in a brief window without snow and just above 0 temperatures, so we where able to fly out 15 minutes after that. We got lucky!
On Monday I filmed a pushback trick that needed around 8 attempts to push a plane back and it didn’t worked out because the wheels were spinning. It was a laughing site. Before the tarmac was cleaned from snow so that the pushback vehicle finally remove the plane from the gate it took almost 2 hours. Half an hour later the plane went back at the gate and disembarked because the crew got out of their hours. What a laugh.
If the problem is lift on the wings why are they spraying de-icer on the fuselage?
De-icing fluid is designed to run off the wing as the aircraft speeds up. Hence it will not affect lift negatively.
KLM’s hours of customer service makes it worse! 0800-2300 with no exceptions.
I cant imagine ghe furore in uk if it had happened at LHR OR MAN
Hate to reveal my ’60s lingering CONSPIRACY bent, but might not AMS be pleased with this mess. Weather destroying the airport ops is more effective than nay of their attempted restrictions for GREEN reasons.
Being a dutch citizen I wish I could hide completely, as I am so much ashamed for the complete disorder we had to witness for at least three days, and then, on top of it, just when things seemed to get going, all screens in dept hall 2 went black due to a power outage, including all emergency lights… Can’t believe it
Anyone fly to Helsinki regularly?
Probably the most brutal European capital weather, but does Vantaa mess up?
Finnair might be one of the worst airlines in Europe but the airport carries on regardless. Plenty of Snowploughs and abundant de-icing liquid.
Once again like in the UK, CEOs are rewarded for failure – all, including airport company boards are useless!
Have the airport owners tried to put heaters in the runways, like the road authorities do.
Aviation is a joke! It’s made up by ruthless, greedy villains, both in air companies and in the airport- and ground service businesses, who only think of maxing out next month’s profits. No attempt is made to actually provide a decent service, no attempt is made to actually make it work also when conditions aren’t favorable, no attempt is made to secure margins that can absorb unforeseen situations. It’s all about boundless consumerism – just look at the “airports” that really are just shopping malls with some boarding gates attached at the far end. All this while pretending aviation is all so exotic, all so customer oriented, all so luxurious and streamlined and well functioning. All complete BS. The only thing they sort of take care of is security in the air because if too many planes fall out, people won’t fly, and that, after all, they wouldn’t want. The rest is pure scam. I’m sorry but that’s the truth no one wants to see.
Some people are so critical of airlines because they have been delayed. In this challenging situation, KLM has put safety of its passengers first. Show some understanding!
A friend was returning home to Munich from a vacation in sunny Colombia. She was one of those booked on a cancelled flight in Amsterdam. She decided to abandon ship, got herself to the train station, no time to buy a ticket so jumped on a train headed for Austria, with a stop in Munich. She talked to train conductor into selling her a seat for the couchette and arrived home safe and sound. However, she feels that she’ll likely never see her checked bag that she left in limbo at Schiphol.
Put tire chains on the push backs
Snow chains are practically useless on an aircraft tow truck, which relies on engine torque for power. The wheels would continue to spin due to insufficient lift. They are ineffective in these situations.
This is what happens when airline and airport management is just about costs containment, forgetting about customer service and operational efficiency, sacrificed on the altar of sacrosaint profitability. Even the legendary Dutch efficiency is gone. Personally, I have dropped flying KLM after Covid, time when the airline boosted tickets price horrendously up and scrapped customer service to chocking low levels
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This is why we have Business Continuity Plans and also risk management. KLM/Air France fell into the classic trap, it won’t ever happen here. Well it did and it will again. Now a thought and shout out for all the ground handling companies, and airport workers, unsung hero’s and fighting against limited resources and the elements, bravo.
Ah yes, yet another episode of “No One Could Have Seen This Coming”, starring Schiphol and KLM management. Except… they absolutely did see it coming. For well over a year, they’ve known there aren’t enough ground staff to keep things running smoothly, and yet here we are again. Chaos, delays, and frustrated passengers — shockingly predictable results of doing very little for far too long. Maybe a proper recruitment drive at Schiphol would help, just a thought.
And it’s not just the airport having a moment. A bit of snow fell from the sky and suddenly train services across the Netherlands were in full meltdown mode. Apparently, winter weather remains a complete surprise every single year. Perhaps lawmakers might want to have a quiet think about how a country handles snow, especially one that experiences it… regularly.
But don’t worry — I’m sure lessons will be “learned.” Until next time.
My story goes back to around 1991. With me was my Finnish wife and two daughters, aged 16 and 13. We’d booked a BA flight from Heathrow to Helsinki at Christmas. Teenagers quickly get bored so we bought them a small battery powered computer game each. (rubbish by today’s standard of course). Anyway, the plane landed at Helsinki in a blizzard. Knowing what we know nowadays, it was beautiful but a bit scary landing in those conditions. At my age, some details are a bit hazy but I think in those days we had to disembark and walk across the tarmac to the terminal building, in that blizzard! Of course, by the time we reached my mother-in-laws apartment, the batteries in the girls’ games were dead so back out in the blizzard we went to get some new ones. That evening, the temperature dropped to -18°c. Happy days
I had a connecting flight yesterday from Berlin to Amsterdam and then onto Newcastle UK which I was travelling to on my own.
50 mins before my flight departed (after I checked in and dropped my bag) both my flights were cancelled leaving me with absolutely no clue on what to do next. No announcement from KLM only a link to say rebook for tomorrow (which also had the same advisory note in it that my original flight had) no idea on what i needed to do next, who to speak to, where i needed to stay, Berlin airport staff were zero help and at this point it was getting late.
I had to collect bags go back into the terminal.
If it wasnt for quick thinking and a credit card I would still be stuck. I had to find a UK airport to fly to from the departures board (london heathrow) and book that a hotel and a connecting flight to Newcastle the next day, at this point still nothing fom KLM!!
A big shout out to the lovely British Airways staff in Berlin for being very understanding and getting me on the last flight back to the UK.
KLM need to do way better than this, absolutely no communication, support or plan to assist people. This wasnt a one off and they had been cancelling flights for a week before mine…you would have thought they would have learned what to do by then.
During normal conditions Schiphol will handle a maximum of 74 departures per hour, using 2 departure runways. During moderate/ heavy snow a 50% reduction of capacity is to be expected as runway 2 will have to be cleaned whilst using runway 1 and vice versa. This will unavoidably lead to heavy delays and cancellations anyhow.
However, it would be fair to expect de-icing to cope with the number of departures from 1 runway. Obviously, that goal was not achieved.
Having said all that, I believe that the major part of the problem was a gross lack of communication and support.
…loved the Schipol airfield Tour (under such circumstances) until such time as it was our turn to enter the ‘de-icing slot’ which was inturn spectacular!!