Foreign travel: why does Schiphol stay open? Here is Rutte’s answer

Why does Schiphol stay open? At his press conference, prime minister Mark Rutte spoke about the travel advisory for abroad, among other things. Several media used the question round afterwards to ask about Schiphol and a flight ban.

Too many people are flying

Rutte grumbled at his press conference. “We see that too many people still take the plane too easily. So: stay in the Netherlands up to and including March. Do not travel.”

The prime minister repeated the negative travel advisory for travel abroad, which applies worldwide . “And do not book any trips, unless it is for work of very great economic importance or because of serious family circumstances.”

“Because every trip abroad is a risk to you, and so to everyone around you.”

• The part about ‘up to and including March’ is new. Earlier it was ‘mid-March’.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that change: “Stay in the Netherlands until 31 March.”

Why stop at a travel advisory and not a flight ban?

A logical question is why it stops at a travel advisory. A flight ban would be possible too. On behalf of NU.nl that question was actually put to the head of government.

“The complicated thing is… I would dearly love to be in favour of a complete flight ban”, Rutte began his answer. “If it were up to me, we would do it now. But that has far-reaching consequences.”

“You also need flying in order to transport goods, sometimes in combination. You need it because people are sometimes faced with very serious personal situations that mean they want to be able to travel too.”

‘Deeply antisocial’

“Anyone in the Netherlands who thinks at this moment, given the situation we are in, that they can get away with going on holiday (or who thinks in February: I am off for a nice week of skiing and I will take the car or the plane to a ski area); then what you are doing is deeply antisocial.”

“Certainly when you know that, apart from the existing virus, there is now this extra threat as well”, Rutte went on, referring to the British variant of the coronavirus.

Why does Schiphol stay open?

The ND was not immediately satisfied with that, as became clear later in the question round. “And yet Schiphol stays open.” According to Nederlands Dagblad, it is precisely because of that threat that the Netherlands should take tough measures.

“It is not simply a matter of saying: There will be no more flying”, Rutte replied as ever. “That has a great many other effects, on our supplies, on people who have to make essential flights, you name it.”