Schiphol Group

Royal Schiphol Group main activity is the operation of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. In addition, we own and operate both Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Lelystad Airport and hold a majority share in Eindhoven Airport. We also have a share in and/or collaborate closely with a broad range of international airports.

Our ambition is to operate the world’s most sustainable, high-quality airports. We want our airports to be zero-emission and zero-waste by 2030 on route to becoming energy-positive and circular in the long run. All the while, we will continue to play a leadership role in making the aviation sector more sustainable to achieve net-zero emission aviation by 2050. By this time, we also envision fully autonomous operations to promote a healthier workforce and reduce the vulnerability to labor shortages.

Royal Schiphol Group’s Vision 2050 is setting a new and aspirational goal for our organisation and the wider Dutch aviation industry. Our Vision is based on strengthening the fundamental ‘qualities’ we offer as a group: Quality of Network, Quality of Work, Quality of Life and Quality of Service. Safety and a Robust organisation are the two key enablers that support the these  ‘qualities, guiding us towards a sustainable, innovative and future-ready airport network.

Link to the website: https://www.schiphol.nl/nl/innovatie/blog/een-autonome-luchthaven-in-2050/

Schiphol Group’s contribution to R&D Mobility fund

  • Smart Operations (WP3.2)

    We have a unique position as we deliver the infrastructure for all other parties to run their airport operations. With this also comes the responsibility to enable safe and efficient (autonomous) operations at the airport.

    While each of the different parties do everything to optimize their own processes there is little insight into the complete picture. As the facilitator, Royal Schiphol Group wants to help in creating a more holistic view by providing airside traffic insights and validating models built by our BrightSky partners with operational data. In addition to this we foresee a need for a system that orchestrates autonomous vehicles at airside and that enables the efficient implementation of these vehicles into the existing operations.

    The operational data that is needed to validate these models, and to make sure that they reflect reality as close as possible rather than just being hypothetical models, is a situational overview of the airside. We want to have (real-time) information of the airside traffic situation to be able to see, and possibly predict, which areas might be congested at which moments in time. Providing this information back to our partner will enable them to optimize planning, routing, and thereby increase the efficiency of their operations.

    Together with our BrightSky partners Vanderlande and KLM we have already organized a live-demo of a traffic orchestration solution. This demo was a promising first step towards showing the (technical) feasibility of a central solution that can optimize traffic flows of autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles at airside.

  • Smart Operations (WP3.3)

    As airports and airlines worldwide explore autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies to improve operational efficiency and develop healthier workplaces, there is a clear need for unified safety standards for safe, reliable, and scalable deployment.

    In response, Royal Schiphol Group has initiated the development of comprehensive AV safety standards for airports. These standards will include generalized technical and functional requirements and specifications to streamline safety assessments. These standards will continuously be updated to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Once set, a trusted, data-backed framework will centralize and bundle AV data of multiple vehicles and fleets, accelerating the transition to higher autonomy levels and building trust in AV technology in complex airport environments.

    Working closely together with operational and safety experts from Zurich Airport, Brussels Airport, and KLM, as well as technical experts like VanderLande and Ohmio, we aim to reduce current fragmentation, foster industry-wide collaboration and establish shared standards for autonomous airside operations.

    Currently, we are defining requirements for self-driving vehicles, against which new AV technologies will be objectively assessed, ensuring trust, safety, and reliability in deployment. Our BrightSky partner, TNO, brings essential expertise in standards design and data validation, supporting the creation of a clear, objective framework to evaluate new self-driving vehicle operations.

    With these shared standards we aim to guide airports worldwide toward safer, more efficient autonomous operations.