AMSTERDAM SCHIPHOL IN THE MID-1980S

​As the aviation community celebrates the 100th anniversary of KLM,  AirportHistory.org is preparing a detailed history on Schiphol Airport, which actually predates KLM by more than three years!

To get in the mood, I wanted to share this amazing illustration below of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the mid-1980s. When I was a kid, I used to have this image as a huge poster. I was so happy to find it back during one of my recent archival digs!

It shows the Schiphol that I knew as a kid: state-of-the-art, small and convenient! Since then, the terminal has doubled in size and several new concourses have been built and existing ones extended. 

Have a close look at the details of the photo. The round structure adjacent to the terminal (center of image) is the "old" railway station. Opened in 1978, the station was torn down after only 15 years and rebuilt into the "Schiphol Plaza" complex we know today. Can some of you still remember the tunnel connecting the railway station to the terminal?

Note the open parking lot on the right, which is now a huge multi-level parking structure with offices built on top. Also note the still-empty polder landscape south of the airport.

The motorway running through it used to offer expansive views of the beautiful Dutch skies. Nowadays, the polder is cluttered with office parks, housing developments,  infrastructure and--in the finest tradition--huge windmills!

Foreign visitors in the image include 747s of Braniff, CP Air, Singapore Airlines and Qantas, as well as DC-10s of Malaysian Airline System and Finnair, as well as a DC-8 from Surinam Airways. Surinam is one of Holland's former colonies.

Interestingly, you'll see planes are parked parallel to the concourse as well as nose-in. Indeed, for a number of years, Schiphol used a combination of the two, with newly built wide-body gates in the 1970s being nose-in positions. Gates for smaller aircraft were converted in the mid-1980s.

SOMETHING IS NOT QUITE RIGHT

I'm sure that readers familiar with Schiphol have already noticed that something about this illustration is "off" and that's what makes it so unique: Pier E, the second concourse from the right (then called Pier C) has been expanded with a "Y-shaped" structure, similar to the other piers.

Indeed, this was originally the plan. But in the early 1980s, it was decided to completely rebuild Pier E, with the design departing from this "Y" shape. See below for how it turned out. 

​From this interesting deviation and the visiting aircraft, I gather that the drawing dates back to the early 1980s or even late 1970s.

I have been unable to properly identify the artist who made this drawing. Only his given name "Hubert" is visible on the edge of the drawing. Can one of our readers perhaps help?

Welcome to "The Blue Concourse", the AirportHistory.org blog! Many airport and aviation aficionados will recognize this name from the 1970 movie "Airport", the movie which ignited my fascination for airports! 

"Airport" was set at a fictional Chicago airport called "Lincoln International Airport" but was actually shot at Minneapolis St. Paul Airport in 1969. Until the year 2000, the terminal's concourses at MSP were labeled according to colors rather than letters. Considering our house color blue, we thought it might be a suitable name!

In this blog, we will post small articles, factoids and more covering topics such as: never-built projects or concepts; current airport projects; fascinating airport statistics; and interesting tidbits about my hometown airport of Schiphol (see first post).

The blog will also be a bit more lighthearted and personal than our airport histories. Welcome and stay tuned!