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Schiphol (municipality Haarlemmermeer) is the Netherlands main airport. Located south of Amsterdam, Schiphol aims to be a European mainport, competing in passenger and cargo throughout with Heathrow International Airport in London, UK, Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Roissy, France. Schiphol's IATA airport code is AMS. The ICAO airport code is EHAM.
Schiphol started early last century as a military airbase, consisting only of a few barracks and a mudpool serving as platform/runways. When civil aircraft started to make use of the field, it was often called Schiphol-les-bains. The Fokker aircraft manufacturer started a factory near Schiphol airport in 1951.
Currently Schiphol features 5 main runways, plus 1 used mainly by general aviation aircraft. The "fifth runway" (really the sixth) was completed in 2003. Plans have already been made for a seventh runway.
The airport is built as one large terminal split in to three large departure halls, the most recent having been completed in 1994, which converge again once airside. There are plans for further terminal expansion.
Because of the intense traffic at Schiphol, more and more holiday-carriers have moved some of their flights to smaller, nearby airports, such as Groningen, Rotterdam, Eindhoven Airport and Beek.
Schiphol is the home base of KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), Martinair and Transavia.
The Dutch Railways operate a major passenger train station directly underneath the passenger terminal complex. Thalys International operates a TGV rail service between Amsterdam, Schiphol, The Hague HS, Rotterdam, Berchem Rail Station (Antwerp), Midi Rail Station (Brussels) and Gare du Nord in Paris.
Schiphol has large shopping areas as a source of revenue and as an additional attractant to air carrier passengers. Schiphol Plaza is the shopping center before customs, hence not only for air travellers, also for people who just change train here, etc. There is a regular size supermarket, Food Village, that is open until midnight seven days a week. Such long shopping hours are rare in the Netherlands.
Schiphol is the world's lowest airport. The Schiphol ATC tower, with a height of 101 m, was the highest in the world when constructed in 1991. Its base is actually 5 m below sea level.
Departure Hall 1
Departure Hall 2
Departure Hall 3
Varying departure hall
External links - Schiphol International Airport Homepage (http://www.schiphol.nl/)
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