Discount airline Easyjet will be operating the European transit services for long-haul companies like KLM at Schiphol airport within the next five years, Easyjet CEO Carolyn McCall has told the Parool.

‘Only the budget carriers will be successful in Europe over the next five years. Companies like KLM will have to concentrate on intercontinental flights in order to be profitable,’ she said.

McCall’s plan implies passengers would have a single ticket, and suitcases and passengers would be moved directly from one plane to another. With 42 European destinations and a strong presence at Schiphol airport, Easyjet could be a good partner for KLM.

However, there are flaws in McCall’s plan, the paper points out.

KLM is already doing this with connections to 87 European cities and moving passengers through Amsterdam to intercontinental destinations. And KLM’s European services are geared to its intercontinental links, cutting transfer time to a bare minimum.

The budget carriers also have one major obstacle to their serving as  European transit services: they must join a global booking service and that costs money, something anathema to low-cost carriers.

Theoretically, the two carriers, one budget, one traditional, would also have to work out which one is going to pay for missed connections.

Moreover, Schiphol airport is designed for the efficient transfer of passengers and luggage – with the single exception of the H pier which handles the budget carriers.