Schiphol airport, what you don’t know
Why is this one of my favorite airports?
This just happens to be the main airport for the Netherlands, not to mention the 5th busiest airport in Europe and the main hub of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
I bet you didn’t know that Schiphol was a military airbase, constructed in the early 1900’s and served as one of the main airports during the 1st World war. After the war, around the mid 1900’s the airport was recommissioned as a civilian airport and completely lost all military functions. That didn’t stop the Germans from invading and capturing the airport for these use. That was short lived and only lasted just a couple of years before being returned back to civilian use.
Early construction of this airport saw it having only 4 runways at a 45 degree angle. I can only imagine what it must have been like to land on a 45 degree angled runway. After the airport was bombed around 1945, it was quickly restored back to use just 4 short years later. Now Schiphol has a design of one single terminal with different arrival and departure halls. Quite different from what we see at some huge airports with several terminals, and additional floors and halls.
The origin of the name to this day is still a mystery to many. Schiphol actually means Ship Grave, so many seem to think because the airport was built around water it must be ship wreckage around or underneath the airport. Others like to believe it got its name from the shallow lakes surrounding the airport, and small ships and boats cruising around.
Nevertheless, Schiphol is an amazing airport, one of the best in the world. Their main hall rivals others in terms of eateries, shops and airline lounges, and if you have a long enough layover you can run out front and take a picture with the i❤Amsterdam sign.
