The new terminal at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol will become operational in 2023. Credit: Schiphol.
The new smart park at the airport was opened in April 2016. Credit: Schiphol.
The parking garage features 2,650 parking spaces. Credit: Schiphol.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the main hub airports in Europe and offers services to 319 national and international destinations.

In 2015, the number of passengers served by the airport increased by 6% to reach approximately 58 million. The airport also handled 1.6 million tonnes of cargo and witnessed more than 450,000 aircraft movements in 2015.

To strengthen the position of the airport and to develop it into a multimodal hub in Europe, Schiphol Group, the owner and operator, planned for a capacity enhancement project at the airport. The project aims to create more space within the airport and make it ready to accommodate the increasing passenger numbers and facilitate future growth.

One of the many proposed projects is the development of a new pier and terminal, which received final approval in March 2015 by the shareholders of the Schiphol Group, including the Dutch State, the City of Amsterdam, the municipality of Rotterdam and Aéroports de Paris.

The new terminal, new pier and its associated facilities will increase the annual capacity of the airport by 14 million.

Details of the new terminal and pier development

A new terminal will be constructed to the south of Schiphol Plaza next to the control tower and will be connected to the existing terminal. The terminal is scheduled to become operational in 2023.

The new pier and its associated facilities will be constructed towards the west of Pier B, near cargo station 1, and will be connected to the south of the existing terminal. The flexible pier will be at the level of freight station 1.

A total of three wide-bodies and five to 11 narrow-body aircraft can be parked at the pier. The stands on the south side of the pier are flexible and can accommodate one wide-body and two narrow-body aircraft. The new pier will be completed in late 2019.

Major modifications are required on the surrounding road network to facilitate the construction of the new pier and terminal, while the existing parking facilities will be relocated.

Contractors involved

Schiphol Group invited tenders for the integral design of the new pier and airside area in April 2016.

Netherlands-based company Riskonet, in partnership with FPC Risk, a fire risk and emergency management firm based in Belgium, is providing the fire safety systems for the pier and terminal development project. The contractors will determine the starting points for the sprinkler protection system based on NFPA codes and standards.

Other developments at Amsterdam Airport

The airport’s Departure Lounge 2, beyond the passport control office, is undergoing a major transformation, which was initiated in September 2014. The lounge will get a new layout, which will increase its retail and food and beverage capacity by approximately 20%.

“The new terminal, new pier and its associated facilities will increase the annual capacity of the airport by 14m passengers.”

Upon completion, the lounge will feature seven different themes including Luxury, Family, Travel and Culture, Modern Dutch, See Buy Fly, Fashion and Lifestyle, and Care and Wellness, offering passengers a variety of experiences. Each theme will offer a range of retail, catering and service outlets, and sitting areas. The renovated lounge opened in the second quarter of 2016.

New airport car parking facilities

The increasing number of passengers also necessitated the expansion of the parking facilities at the Amsterdam Airport Schipol. A new parking garage, named P3, was planned to offer passengers sufficient parking facilities.

The new smart car park, located in Schipol-North, alongside the A4, was opened in April 2016. The five-storey building offers 2,650 parking spaces and allows the passengers to park for both short and long periods.

To make the way-finding and parking easy, a new way of natural way-finding, which uses different colour codes to guide passengers, has been used in the new garage. The building uses solar cells and LED lighting to reduce the environmental footprint.

The car park was built by Ballast Nedam, a Dutch construction and engineering company and a partner of Schiphol.