Last year, there were strong hints that RBA would start to run a service from Brunei to Amsterdam via Jakarta using Garuda alocation. Garuda has been banned from Europe due to the poor safety record of Indonesian airlines. It was said that RBA was only waiting for delivery of a new plane to serve the route. But 2008 is nearly gone and no sight of RBA landing at Schipol as yet. On another news, Amsterdam Schiphol airport has suffered quite a bit since it introduced flight tax recently. The airport which won more than 120 prizes over the years, voted the best airport in the world 7 times in the last 2 decades and honoured with the title of "Best European Airport" for 15 consecutive years (1988-2003), however is not immuned to the ever budget conscious travellers.
The airport saw a decrease of a half million passengers in the last 5 months since the introduction of an 'environmental' tax on flying . The flight tax has added €11.25 to flights up to 2,500 km and €45 for longer journeys. As a result, nearby airports in Germany and Belgium saw a sharp increase, even up 300%. We also did the same recently when we opted for Brussels airport for our trip to Spain rather than Schipol. Time will tell if this amazing airport will revert back and reduce or even abolish the tax. It still serves 50 million passengers a year!
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