Located a handy 20 minute drive or 9 kilometres from the city is the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Located in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, it is the fourth busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume. Each year the airport provides passage to over 52.5 million people. The airport has a total of six runways.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the primary operational hub for KLM and its offshoot KLM Cityhopper. Other carriers such as Transavia.com, Corendon Dutch Airlines, Martinair, Arkefly, Vueling, Delta Air Lines and easyjet.
The airport terminal is a one terminal concept building, with 3 departure halls which are also used for arrivals all emanating from a central plaza. Being a European country, flights are designated as either Schengen or non-Schengen flights. In total there are around 165 boarding gates in the airport. The central plaza is where most of the retail outlsets are located, so that both passengers and non-travellers can make purchases.
Departure Hall A is utilised solely for flights travelling to Schengen areas.
Departure Hall 2 is segregated into an upper and a lower area, the upper area is used for Schengen flights, and the lower area is used for non-Schengen flights.
Departure Hall 3 is also used for Schengen and non-Schengen flights.
The airport can be easily accessed via both rail and bus services from the city of Amsterdam.
