Simple Flying
Jake Hariman
06 Jan 2026
The new year has got off to a challenging start for Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS), with the Netherlands' main air hub crippled by adverse winter weather for several days in a row. Movements at the facility have been limited due to snowfall, with the slower pace of operations leading to congested taxiways at what is normally one of the busiest airports in all of Europe. This, in some cases, has led to taxis lasting several hours.
Among the most notable examples of this phenomenon, as highlighted yesterday by Aaron Rheins on Instagram, involved a KLM Airbus A321neo that was scheduled to depart Amsterdam Schiphol for London Heathrow Airport (LHR) yesterday morning. The flight in question pushed back with a relatively small delay, but the congested taxiways and worsening weather conditions meant that, two hours later, it was back at its gate in Amsterdam.
Of course, KLM is far from the only carrier impacted by Schiphol's operational disruption, with the facility advising more generally that "the wintry conditions are expected to cause disruptions to the flight schedule in the coming days, [which] may result in delays and cancellations."
