The return of Sam Altman to OpenAI is not the only big thing that happened this Wednesday. Air India returned to Amsterdam as recently as June 2023, and then had to cancel the flights for the Winter Schedule due to lack of slots at Amsterdam Schiphol.

Air India to return to Amsterdam operations (again) in W23.

The on-again, off-again act of Air India was powered by Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the slot coordinator. Air India had to stop these flights because they could not gain sufficient slots at AMS. Per filings made by Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL), the slot coordinator for Schiphol and other Netherlands airports, during the Summer 2023 season, Amsterdam had a total of 303,000 slots available. The number has been reduced for the winter season to 189,515, with further cuts planned in the S24 schedule.

The Dutch government had outlined plans to slash aircraft movements at Schipol by 8 per cent from 2019 levels from next summer, which meant airlines would be forced to cull 9,070 flights from their schedules over the summer season.

However, on November 14, 2023, bowing down to pressure from airlines, the European Commission, and perhaps the US Department of Transport, which lodged a formal complaint from US carriers for Schiphol’s cutbacks (causing JetBlue to lose their slots), the Dutch government retracted its proposal to limit the number of flights through AMS.

One week later, Air India has put up on sale their flight to Amsterdam again. The flight will resume on December 17, 2023, and operate four times a week.  The airline will deploy its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which can accommodate 256 passengers across two classes – 238 in economy and 18 in business class. It will operate on Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday, with an afternoon departure from Delhi and the return trip from Amsterdam starting late evening.

Bottomline

Air India has regained its operations in Amsterdam in December 2023 which were initially caused by reduction of slot availability at Schiphol. Air India is now offering the flight on sale again, four times a week, effective December 17, 2023.

What do you make of Air India’s on-off-on operations in Amsterdam?

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