KLM introduced a surcharge of €250 ($338) on some European flights departing from Amsterdam. The fee increase is an attempt to reduce the number of passengers travelling out of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, which like many European airports has been hit hard by staff shortages. The airport also introduced a cap on passenger numbers and asked airlines to reduce schedules.

On the September 17, KLM had to cancel 34 flights after the airport notified it a day earlier of the urgent need to cut passenger numbers between the 17-19 of September.

The airline said the request was “over and above the cancellations already made to September at the airport’s earlier request”.

KLM confirmed the surcharge currently applies to the airline’s flights from Schiphol to European destinations until 3 October and on 9 October.

In a statement KLM said, “In order to reduce the number of local passengers due to the security manpower crisis at Schiphol, KLM had to take a number of measures. One of these is the imposition of a surcharge. This fee was not properly communicated to travel agents and therefore our customers. For this, we apologize.”

KLM said the need for the surcharge would be reviewed on a daily basis.

Schiphol’s CEO Dick Benschop resigned last month following a chaotic summer.