As passengers report empty planes, flight bookings from Schiphol to the US have dipped by nearly a quarter. But why? Many can hazard a guess.
Donald Trump has been busy lately: trying to annex Greenland, deporting Dutch people from the States, kidnapping Venezuela’s president, and deploying ICE.
It’s no wonder Nederlanders want nothing to do with the “land of the free.”
Reports by AD and The Financial Times suggest the US president’s recent actions could certainly be a factor.
Bookings to the US take a noticeable hit
Aside from travellers reporting empty rows on US-bound flights, there’s abundant data showing the US’ drop in popularity as a travel destination.
Aviation data from Cirium shows that bookings from major European airports to the US have dropped significantly for July.
Schiphol is among the hardest hit, with a 23% decline compared to the same month last year.
Meanwhile, data from the International Air Transport Association from 2025 shows that air traffic grew the least between Europe and the US: a measly 2.8%.
When NOS surveyed travel companies two weeks ago, their answer was clear. Bookings to the US are down 20%.
READ MORE | Skip the World Cup, kick America out of NATO, and more: Dutch experts call to “Boycott USA”
Given the fact that the World Cup is still planned for July, the timing of the decline is especially jarring.
Trump’s political moves and stricter visas deter travellers
While we cannot control Trump’s politics, avoiding the US entirely is a choice many seem to be making.
According to the NOS, travel agents are citing Trump’s capture of Maduro, threats towards Greenland, and ICE as reasons why travellers are reluctant to make the journey to the US.
The Netherlands isn’t the only country having this reaction. According to YouGov, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain are also seeing fewer travellers to the US, attributing this trend to a negative view of the US.
And the US is feeling the repercussions of this.
The Financial Times reports that 11 million fewer tourists travelled to the US in 2025 compared to the year before. This has cost Americans roughly $50 billion in lost revenue. Yikes.
Part of the drop also comes down to tighter US visa rules, which have made entry from countries like Brazil and Thailand impossible.
Vliegtuigen naar de VS zijn leeg. Thx to the Donald. pic.twitter.com/tqQFYxAe7A
— Arend Jan Boekestijn (@ajboekestijn) February 7, 2026
Translation: Flights to the US are empty. Thx to the Donald.
What does this mean for your travel plans?
Anyone who missed the “boycott the US” memo and still wants to fly stateside this summer is in luck, according to travel website Thrifty Traveler.
Air capacity between Europe and the US is over 2% higher this July compared to last year. And with fewer people booking seats, this can only mean one thing: cheaper tickets.
Meanwhile, flights between Europe and Asia jumped by a whopping 11.8%, suggesting many Europeans are redirecting their travel plans eastward.
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Interesting, but the image looks like it is a flight from Washington DC TOWARD Amsterdam? Or am I blind?
What does it mean when you say air capacity is 2% higher? Does that mean there’s 2% more empty seats in the same amount of planes, or does that mean that 2% more planes are flying? This could even mean fewer planes are flying but there are an overwhelmingly amount of empty seats still.