Budget Airlines that Fly to Amsterdam

Half the airlines on the 2010 version of this list no longer exist. Air Berlin, bmi, bmibaby, Flybe, Atlas Blue, Meridiana, WindJet and US Airways are all gone, and Arkefly now flies as TUI. What's left is a shorter, more useful list, and one big change in how the budget carriers treat Schiphol: it has become one of the most expensive airports in Europe for them to fly to.

The trick this page was written for still works. If a long-haul fare into London, Paris or Dublin is much cheaper than one into Amsterdam, a cheap European flight can close the gap. Just know what you're giving up before you book two separate tickets.

Why budget fares to Schiphol aren't as cheap as they used to be

Every passenger flying out of a Dutch airport pays the Dutch air passenger tax, which is €30.25 per passenger per flight in 2026. Transfer passengers are exempt, but on a €40 return fare that tax is a huge share of the price. From 2027 the government is moving to higher rates for longer flights.

Airport charges add to it. In March 2026 easyJet said it was cutting frequencies at Schiphol, with its CEO calling it "an incredibly expensive airport, with very expensive aviation taxes." JetBlue dropped its New York JFK flights for similar reasons. The result is fewer rock-bottom fares than you'd find at a secondary airport, so compare before you assume the budget airline is cheapest.

The budget airlines flying to Schiphol

Route lists change every season, so treat these as a starting point and check the airline's own route map. The destinations below come from the Schiphol airlines and destinations list as of September 2026, and Ryanair's from its own booking site.

Transavia

KLM's low-cost sister, with more Schiphol routes than any other budget airline. Transavia covers most of the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and North Africa, plus cities such as Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, Athens, Reykjavik, Tbilisi and Paris-Orly. If you're coming from southern Europe, check here first.

easyJet

easyJet has the widest UK network into Amsterdam: London Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and Southend, plus Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast. It also flies in from Berlin, Geneva, Basel, Milan, Prague, Kraków, Copenhagen and a string of Spanish and Portuguese cities. Frequencies are being trimmed, so an extra day of flexibility helps.

Vueling

Vueling flies from Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga and Asturias, with Ibiza and Palma added in summer. Barcelona is the useful one: it's a big long-haul gateway, so it's a real option for the two-ticket trick.

Ryanair

Ryanair only flies to Schiphol from Dublin and Málaga. Most of its Dutch flying goes to Eindhoven instead, where it lists 38 routes. See our guide to alternate airports for Amsterdam before you book one of those, because Eindhoven Airport isn't on the rail line: you take a bus to Eindhoven station and then a train about 110 km north.

Aer Lingus

Not a pure budget airline, but Aer Lingus prices its Dublin flights to compete with Ryanair. Dublin also has US border preclearance, which makes it a handy stop on the way home to North America.

Norwegian and airBaltic

Norwegian links Amsterdam with Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. airBaltic covers Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Palanga, and Riga is a good connecting point for the rest of its eastern European network.

Turkish low-cost carriers

Pegasus flies from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen and Antalya, AJet (Turkish Airlines' budget arm) from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen and Ankara, and SunExpress from Izmir. Corendon also runs a big holiday network out of Schiphol.

Long-haul budget options

• IndiGo flies daily between Mumbai and Amsterdam, according to Aviation A2Z (August 2026). The leased Boeing 787 is being swapped for a narrowbody Airbus A321XLR from late 2026, so expect a smaller plane.
• JetBlue kept its Boston to Amsterdam flights after dropping New York.
• Air Transat (Toronto) and WestJet (Halifax) fly seasonal routes, mostly in summer.
• TUI fly Netherlands, the former Arkefly, runs holiday flights to the Caribbean, Mexico, Cape Verde and dozens of sun destinations. They're built for Dutch package holidays, but seats are sold on their own.

How to make a two-ticket trip work

Two separate bookings mean the second airline owes you nothing if the first flight is late. A few rules keep that from hurting:

1. Leave a long gap, ideally an overnight, between the long-haul arrival and the budget flight.
2. Check the baggage rules. The cheapest easyJet, Ryanair and Transavia fares include only a small under-seat bag, and adding a checked case can wipe out the saving.
3. Watch the airport. easyJet flies to Amsterdam from four London airports, and landing at Heathrow for a flight out of Southend is a long day.
4. Consider the train. From London, Paris or Brussels, Eurostar often beats flying once you count airport time. Our guides to London to Amsterdam and Paris to Amsterdam compare the options.

If you'd rather have the whole trip on one ticket, with the airline on the hook for missed connections, that's what AirTreks does. It's BootsnAll's sister company, and it has been building multi-stop and round-the-world tickets since 1987. This sample route mixes cities much like a budget-airline hop would:

More tips on actually booking these fares are in how to fly budget airlines to Amsterdam, and once you land, here's how to get from Schiphol to central Amsterdam. Stuck with a long connection? Our Schiphol layover guide shows how to get into the city and back.

FAQ

Does Ryanair fly to Amsterdam?

Yes, but only from Dublin and Málaga to Schiphol. For most other Ryanair routes you'll land at Eindhoven and take the train north.

Which is the cheapest airline to Amsterdam from the UK?

It changes by date, but easyJet has the most UK routes into Schiphol, so it usually has the lowest fare somewhere. Compare it with KLM and British Airways, and with Eurostar from London, before you add bag fees to the budget fare.

Do I pay the Dutch flight tax when I fly into Amsterdam?

The €30.25 tax applies to departing passengers, so it's charged on your flight home from a Dutch airport, not on the way in. It's included in the ticket price.

photo by mindspillage