More efficient security checks at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

DutchAmsterdam.nl — Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and security services have been given the go-ahead for a pilot project aimed at providing more efficient security checks at airports in the Netherlands.

The aviation sector, which meets this week at Amsterdam’s RAI convention centre, says the current approach to security is not safe enough, too expensive, and leads to unrest among travelers.

Dutch news agency ANP report that last Tuesday Ivo Opstelten, Minister of Security and Justice, gave his support for a trial of the new approach at Schiphol Airport. The pilot project will be known as ‘Sure.’

Risk Categories

Passengers will be placed in risk categories using information already available to airlines and security services. Travelers about which much information is known ahead of their flight — such as personal identification and travel details — will benefit from lighter security checks than those about whom little is known, or whose behavior raises questions.

“Schiphol will become a living laboratory for innovation,” says Ron Louwerse, the airport’s Chief of Security.

Minister Opstelten says that random security checks will also be part of the new approach — making it much more difficult for terrorists and drugs smugglers to circumvent known methods.

Two weeks ago Amsterdam Airport Schiphol announced it is going to pre-screen passengers from outside the European Union before their arrival.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Located 20 minutes southwest of Amsterdam, Schiphol airport is the Netherlands’ main international airport. It ranks as Europe’s 5th busiest and the world’s 15th busiest by total passenger traffic.

Schiphol is also the world’s 6th busiest airport by international passenger traffic and the world’s 17th largest for cargo tonnage.