KLM: Royal Dutch Airlines
KLM, or Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., is the national flag carrier of the Netherlands and holds the distinction of being one of the world's oldest continuously operating scheduled airlines, having been founded on October 7, 1919. Initially established by military aviator Albert Plesman with strong government support, KLM began its first scheduled flights between Amsterdam and London in 1920 and expanded its routes internationally over the years, including significant operations to North America and Asia. The airline merged with Air France in 2004, creating the Air France KLM Group, which operates under both brands while leveraging synergies for enhanced service and operational efficiency.
As of the mid-2020s, KLM served over 170 destinations across 63 countries, with additional connections through alliances such as SkyTeam. The airline has undergone several fleet transitions, primarily utilizing Boeing and Airbus aircraft, and has made strides to improve safety and operational standards since notable accidents in its past. KLM has also diversified its business strategy to include partnerships and subsidiaries while actively addressing challenges from emerging low-cost carriers and global competition. Additionally, the airline has engaged in corporate social responsibility initiatives focused on environmental sustainability and community support.
KLM: Royal Dutch Airlines
Also known as: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N. V.
Date: Founded and incorporated in the Netherlands on October 7, 1919
Definition: One of the world’s first scheduled international airlines.
Significance: As the oldest continuously operating scheduled airline, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM) is the national flag carrier of the Netherlands. By the mid-2020s, it served over 170 destinations in sixty-three countries. KLM connected passengers to over 1,000 destinations through its partners and the SkyTeam alliance. Together with Air France, their combined fleet consisted of over 551 planes.
Origins
In 1919, the young Dutch military aviator Albert Plesman founded KLM with industry and government support to establish the Netherlands' national airlines. From its early beginnings, KLM had strong government assistance. The Kingdom of the Netherlands had granted the fledgling aviation enterprise the right to bear the “Royal” title as part of its designation. Actual government participation in the company has varied over the years, from a majority shareholder position in the 1950s to about a 9.1 percent stake in 2024. In May 2004, Air France and KLM merged to create the Air France KLM Group. The French government holds a 28.6 percent stake in the company.
Routes and Expansion
KLM began scheduled service on May 17, 1920, with flights between Amsterdam and London. Four years later, the airline initiated its first intercontinental flights to Indonesia, one of the Dutch colonies. From then on, KLM’s route structure expanded steadily until World War II, when all regular flight operations were suspended. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, the KLM headquarters was moved to Indonesia, and only a few unscheduled flights took place.
After the war, scheduled service resumed, and in May 1946, KLM opened transatlantic services to the United States. During the following decades, new services were added to North and South America, Asia, Africa, and some parts of the Caribbean. After airline deregulation in the United States (1978) and initial efforts toward liberalization in Europe, KLM management began establishing partnerships to expand the KLM network. By 2000, KLM and its national and international partners operated a route network connecting about 150 cities in more than seventy countries on six continents.
By 2007, KLM transported 22 million passengers and carried 650 million tons of cargo, and partnerships with other airlines increased its international presence. By 2015, it had about 26.6 million passengers per year, 24.5 frequent flier members, and an operating revenue of 25.2 billion euros. The company employed over 32,000 people as of March 2015. After disruptions in travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, KLM's number of passengers remained steady at 65 million in 2022. The airline employed over 35,410 people in 2019. Following airline industry trends in the mid-2020s, KLM’s ridership increased to 30.3 million. In 2023, KLM had almost 79,000 employees.
Fleet and Safety
KLM entered service with a chartered De Havilland DH-16 in 1920. With government support, the KLM fleet grew steadily. Until World War II, the carrier operated aircraft predominantly manufactured by the Dutch company Fokker. After the war, the KLM fleet was rebuilt, mainly with American Douglas and Lockheed aircraft. In 2000, KLM expanded its fleet from sixty-eight aircraft in 1946 to more than 120 airliners, including aircraft owned by its immediate partners. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, KLM’s fleet consisted mostly of Boeing aircraft, such as the 737 and the 747. In 2002, the airline began a multiphase fleet renewal program, transitioning to the exclusive use of Boeing 747-400s and 777-200ERs and Airbus A330-200s.
During the decades following World War II, KLM lost several Douglas and Lockheed aircraft in air crashes. Especially notable was KLM’s involvement in the world’s most deadly aviation accident, the runway collision of a KLM B-747 and a Pan Am B-747 on March 27, 1977, in foggy conditions at Tenerife Airport, Canary Islands. In the ensuing carnage, 583 people were killed, and nearly all the survivors were injured to a significant degree. Tragically, it is believed that hubris and pilot error on the part of the long-serving captain of the KLM flight played a role in this aviation disaster.
Following this collision, KLM’s safety record improved significantly. From 1978 to 2000, the company lost only one aircraft, a Saab 340, belonging to KLM Cityhopper, the KLM regional carrier. One crew member and two passengers were killed in that crash.
Company Strategy and Alliances
Beginning in the late 1970s, KLM’s management decided to diversify the company to manage the cyclical nature of the airline industry. Hotel chains, technical services, and management consulting became part of the company's overall business activities. Other Dutch carriers, Martinair and Transavia Airlines, also became part of the KLM organization. By 2000, KLM’s subsidiaries included the regional carriers KLM Cityhopper, Transavia, and Martinair. The main divisions included KLM Cargo and KLM Systems Services.
When air transportation liberalization efforts got underway in Europe in the 1990s, KLM decided to aggressively develop its hub in Amsterdam by establishing partnerships and alliances with numerous other airlines that would feed traffic into Schiphol Airport, KLM’s home base. However, faced with the limited growth capabilities at its hub, KLM began to pursue a multi-hub system in the late 1990s to guarantee its growth potential into the new millennium.
One of the initial KLM alliances was with Northwest Airlines of the United States. KLM acquired a significant stake in this carrier in 1989 but sold its equity position at a profit in 1997. KLM and Northwest remained global partners and signed a long-term joint venture agreement that same year. In 1998, KLM established another highly publicized alliance with Alitalia, the national flag carrier of Italy. Unfortunately, the conditions of the agreement were unmet, and KLM management terminated the partnership. Challenges that KLM continued to face included competition on transatlantic routes from American megacarriers, low-cost Asian carriers expanding their global reach, and integrators with one-stop-shopping freight services. To meet these challenges, KLM management decided to position the carrier as a potential partner in a worldwide airline alliance.
In 2003, KLM undertook a major strategic shift, agreeing to join Air France in a merger finalized in May 2004. The new company, Air France KLM Group, continued to operate both airlines under separate brands but allowed intense cooperation. Then, in September 2004, KLM joined the SkyTeam international alliance, joining Air France and Delta Air Lines, Alitalia, Korean Air, and others in what became the world's second-largest such alliance. Outside SkyTeam, Air France KLM entered a joint venture with Delta in 2009 to allow special cooperation for transatlantic routes. Alitalia joined the venture in 2010.
The company continued to innovate in other ways, including joining its frequent flier program with Air France in 2005 and becoming the first airline to install self-service kiosks to transfer boarding passes in 2006. In 2008, it supported the Open Skies treaty, allowing more unrestricted air travel between Europe and the United States, and gained antitrust immunity in the United States that same year. KLM also undertook corporate social responsibility and social responsibility initiatives, such as efforts to reduce its environmental impact and support medical care programs.
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