Over 22 million air passengers in Q3 2025

© ANP / Evert Elzinga
A total of 22.2 million air passengers passed through the Netherlands’ five major airports in the third quarter of 2025. That was an increase of 3 percent, year on year. The number of flights was slightly higher, at 147 thousand. The volume of air freight transported decreased by over 7 percent. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of newly released figures.

In general, the largest number of commercial flights are operated and the largest number of passengers are carried in the third quarter, because the summer holidays fall during that period. August was the busiest month of the year to date, with 50 thousand flights and 7.6 million passengers. Sunday 3 August and Monday 4 August were the busiest days of the third quarter: on both days, over 262 thousand passengers travelled to and from the Netherlands.

3 in 4 young air passengers travel within Europe

Nearly three-quarters of air passengers passing through airports in the Netherlands were travelling within Europe. The most popular country of origin and destination in Europe was Spain with 3.2 million air passengers, followed by the United Kingdom and Italy at 2.3 million and 1.4 million passengers, respectively. The majority of passengers outside Europe travelled to and from the United States: 1.7 million.

Barcelona was the busiest airport in Q3

The majority of passengers using airports in the Netherlands in Q3 were travelling to and from El Prat airport near Barcelona and Aeropuerto Gran Picasso near Málaga. This does not apply to all five major airports.

The most passengers departing from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, were travelling to and from Barcelona El Prat (442 thousand), followed by London Heathrow (392 thousand). For those travelling from Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Eindhoven Airport, from the most popular destination was Málaga - Costa del Sol Airport. Maastricht Aachen Airport saw the most passengers travelling to and from Alicante/El Altet airport, while for Groningen Airport Eelde Iraklion in Crete was the most popular destination.

Less cargo transported by air

In Q3 2025, air cargo volumes declined by 7.3 percent year on year, to 362 thousand tonnes. Most cargo (97 percent) was handled through Schiphol Airport: 351 thousand tonnes. That was a decrease of 8.6 percent, year on year. The remaining air cargo was handled through Maastricht Aachen Airport. Relative to Q3 2024, air cargo volumes at this airport increased from 5.7 to 10.3 thousand tonnes.


A total of 208 thousand tonnes of goods were transported by air between the Netherlands and Asia in Q3 2025, nearly 58 percent of all air freight. China and the United Arab Emirates accounted for more than half of the cargo transported to and from Asia. 50 thousand tonnes of the 94 tonnes of air freight to the Americas was transported to and from the United States. In Europe, the Netherlands handled the most cargo with Türkiye at 12.3 thousand tonnes, while the European Union as a whole transported the most cargo to and from Germany, at 7.6 thousand tonnes.

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