Schiphol Is The Outlier -- Excess Mortality In The Age Of Covid -- March 7, 2023

For those playing along, this is the third of three posts.

The answer: Schiphol.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, known informally as Schiphol Airport, is the main international airport of the Netherlands.

It is the world's third busiest airport by international passenger traffic in 2021.

With almost 72 million passengers in 2019, it is the third-busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume and the busiest in Europe in terms of aircraft movements.

With an annual cargo tonnage of 1.74 million, it is the 4th busiest in Europe.

In addition: The airport is built on the single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three large departure halls.

Schiphol is the hub for KLM and its regional affiliate KLM Cityhopper as well as for Corendon Dutch Airlines, Martinair, Transavia and TUI fly Netherlands. The airport also serves as a base for EasyJet. 

The big hint: England was not in the original graphic. England would have joined the Netherlands as the other outlier due to Heathrow.

More:

Schiphol Airport ranked as Europe's third busiest and the world's eleventh busiest by total passenger traffic in 2017 (12th in 2016, 14th in 2015, 2014 and 2013 and 16th in 2012).

It also ranks as the world's fifth busiest by international passenger traffic and the world's sixteenth busiest for cargo tonnage.

A record 71,706,999 passengers passed through the airport in 2019, just before the pandemic

Schiphol's main competitors in terms of passenger traffic and cargo throughput are London-Heathrow, Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris–Charles de Gaulle and Istanbul.

In 2019, just before the pandemic, 70.5% of passengers using the airport flew to and from Europe, 10.6% to and from North America and 10.1% to and from Asia; cargo volume was mainly between Schiphol and Asia (46.3%) and North America (17.6%).

In 2019, 102 carriers provided a total of 332 destinations on a regular basis.

And making things wonderful for the virus: the airport is built as one large terminal (a single-terminal concept), split into three large departure halls, which connect again once airside.

KLM and China:

The partnership with China Southern Airlines and its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines is key to our China strategy.

We have a joint venture on 6 routes and about 40 codeshare destinations beyond KLM’s gateways in China, supporting KLM’s operations in Greater China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Together with China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, Amsterdam remains the leading gateway from Europe to China and from China to Europe with 8 destinations served non-stop from Amsterdam.

Together with its partners, KLM offers 67 flights a week to Greater China.

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The Netherlands Is The Outlier

Previously:

Previously: if you are playing this game, this is the second of three posts -- in the following chart, there is one outlier and only one outlier and it's not Sweden:

The one outlier is The Netherlands.

The last note, the third of three notes will explain the reason why The Netherlands has an excess mortality in the same range -- 11% to 12% as Greece, Spain, Estonia, etc., when The Netherlands should be grouped with Norway / Sweden (4 - 5%) or typical western European countries (Belgium, Germany, France) at 8% to 9%.

The Netherlands has/have nothing in common with Greece, Spain, Estonia and yet that's where The Netherlands ended up. The Netherlands should have ended up with a much lower excess mortality had they been similar to the other Nordic / Northern European countries.

Now, for the third and last post, to be posted tomorrow, why was The Netherlands, at almost 12%, almost 3x that of Sweden?

The game is afoot.

Hint: England is not on the list, although Ireland is. And Ireland, at 8.0% is about twice that of Sweden.

Original Post

Start here, see this post, to play this game.

This note is the first of three parts to the denouement.

This (below) is what jumped out at me when I saw the original chart (at the link above). 

The grouping: similar nations with similar percent of "excess deaths," similar outcomes.

So, now, after looking at the groupings, look for the one outlier. There is one outlier and it's not Sweden.

By the way, I got a great note from a reader from Scandinavia.

My reply to the note above:

Thank you.

That is incredibly helpful --- the note about seniors in Sweden getting their vaccinations, and, the difference between the Protestant and Catholic countries.

I think you will enjoy seeing what I think is the outlier and why that country was an outlier. Your note helped immensely. Thank you.

Another reader also suggested Iceland, but Iceland is not the outlier. When the outlier is pointed out, it will jump right out at you. You will not be able to "un-see" it.