Amsterdam Schiphol Airport saw its traffic increase by 2 per cent year-on-year in May to reach almost 6.1 million passengers.

The Netherlands hub said that the number of flights during the month also increased by 2 per cent to 42,674 movements over the same period, with Spain, the UK and Italy being the most popular destinations for travellers.

But both the number of passengers and flights were down compared with May 2019 when Schiphol catered for 6.4 million travellers and 44,707 flights.

In a statement, Schiphol said that 4 million travellers departed from or arrived at the airport, with 2.1 million transfer passengers. Of this total, 4.4 million were flying to or from a destination within Europe while 1.7 million travelled long-haul to or from destinations outside Europe.

The Dutch government is due to cut capacity at Schiphol from 500,000 flights per year to 478,000 from 2025 as a measure designed to reduce noise pollution from aircraft. But aviation groups have warned that this move could damage connectivity from the Netherlands hub.

Earlier this month, airport organisation ACI Europe ranked Schiphol as the second best European airport for direct connectivity - behind Istanbul - due to its ¡°excellent connectivity within Europe¡±, which Schiphol uses to feed its extensive long-haul network.

But ACI Europe warned: ¡°The planned reduction in the capacity of the Dutch hub makes it unlikely that it will maintain its position in the coming years.¡±