Summary

The Netherlands is the largest export country of cut flowers in the world. Air cargo transport of flowers amounts to 25 percent of the total annual tonnage of goods that go through Schiphol Airport. However, due to uncertainty of the future development in international trade, as well as the increasing competition from other hub airports in Europe and new developments in the maritime transport sector, forecasts point to a less rosy picture for the Schiphol airport and Netherlands. To maintain and improve the international competitive position of Schiphol airport as a 'preferred hub' for flowers, it is important to keep up with developments in the international markets, changes in the international value chain of flowers and to strengthen the competitive position of Schiphol in relation to competing airports (Brussels, Liège, Frankfurt and Paris). In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework that assesses the competitiveness of Schiphol airport compared to its European competitors, based on a model that takes into consideration transport and logistics costs, as well as other variables like quality of services and local and business environment. The results show that Schiphol can maintain it competitive advantage due to competitive indicators as trade costs, hub position in international air-networks, quality of handling goods, and the existence of high-quality airport infrastructure and a unique business environment, which attract international business. However, the results of the flower trade analysis show that Liège airport has become a direct competitor of Schiphol, as this airport scores better than Schiphol for trade in flowers above 1,000 kg. Liège airport scores equally to Schiphol in terms of monetary, transport costs and quality of services.