Amsterdam Schiphol expects new pier to start operation in 2027

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has announced that its new Pier A is now expected to come into operation in April 2027.

The much-delayed project will add new facilities and gates, as well as “sustainable features” when it finally opens at the Netherlands hub airport in three years time.

Schiphol said that costs for the Pier A project have now increased to nearly €1.4 billion due to repairs, delays and “a longer project duration”. The airport’s shareholders have agreed to a €300 million increase in budget for the project.

Sybren Hahn, executive director of Schiphol Infrastructure, said: “We are pleased that we can now confidently look ahead to a new completion date. The complicated Pier A project clearly went far from smoothly under the previous contractor.

“Delays, quality issues and a legal conflict – none of that helped progress. We will get the keys to the new Pier A in December 2026, after which we’ll conduct operational testing of the new systems and hundreds of colleagues and airport partners will learn how to work in the new environment.”

Schiphol added in a statement that the chances of further postponement or going over the new budget on the project were now “minimal”, due to the “precise schedule” agreed between the airport and new contractor BAM.

Robert Carsouw, the airport’s chief financial officer, said it was currently in discussions with airlines about new airport charges and investments, including Pier A.

“There are understandably questions about this among the airlines and we will therefore provide more insight into the project in those discussions and explain how Schiphol intends to deal with costs,” he added.

“It’s good to emphasise that the impact of individual projects on the charges is very limited. This also applies to the total cost of the Pier A project, that we’ll incorporate into the charges after commissioning in 2027.”