Schiphol Cargo is to merge with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s existing Aviation and Marketing Department from April 1, 2018.

The new Aviation Marketing and Cargo Division will be headed by Maaike van der Windt.

Jonas van Stekelenburg, who has led Schiphol Cargo for almost three years, will support the development of the division before leaving for a new challenge outside Schiphol this summer.

“The new department puts cargo at the heart of our airport and the teams will benefit from the combined expertise and the synergies this will bring,” said van Stekelenburg.

Van der Windt has two decades of experience working in the aviation industry and joined Schiphol Group as head of aviation marketing in 2017, after working in a number of senior management roles for Brisbane Airport.

“The new structure will ensure that cargo is robustly represented in the future,” said van der Windt. “Furthermore, we recognize the importance of belly capacity beside full freight capacity and aligning cargo with passenger network and business development ensures we optimize opportunities.”

Van der Windt will report directly to André van der Berg, chief commercial officer of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

“Cargo is important to Schiphol and aligning the departments in this way ensures that we can continue to develop our service quality for our freight community,” said van der Berg. “I would like to thank Jonas for his dedication to Schiphol Cargo, his pursuit of enhanced ground operations, and for driving digital efforts under the Smart Cargo Mainport Program.”

As head of cargo, van Stekelenburg came up with various digitalization initiatives, including advanced trucking data, customs data and flower production and shipment data.

“I really enjoyed working with everybody in the cargo and aviation industry,” he said. “Cargo is not difficult but, because of the many players and the many aspects of shipments, can be quite complex. Solving these puzzles is a real joy. I look forward to starting a new challenge as of the summer, making good use of the experience gained at Schiphol.”

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the third-largest air cargo hub in Europe, having handled 1.75 million tonnes in 2017.