KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.),[6] is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands.[7] KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It is part of the Air France-KLM group and a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. Founded in 1919, KLM is the oldest operating airline in the world, and has 35,488 employees with a fleet of 110 (excluding subsidiaries) as of 2021.[8] KLM operates scheduled passenger and cargo services to 145 destinations.
New terminal buildings at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol opened in April 1967, and in 1968 the stretched Douglas DC-8-63 ("Super DC-8") entered service.[11] With 244 seats, the Super DC-8 was the largest airliner in scheduled passenger service at the time. KLM was the first airline to put the higher-gross-weight Boeing 747-200B, powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines, into service in February 1971;[29] this began the airline's use of widebody jets.[11] In March 1971, KLM opened its current headquarters in Amstelveen.[11] In 1972, it purchased the first of several McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft-McDonnell Douglas's response to Boeing's 747.[10]
KLM Boeing 747-206B in 1971.
In 1973, Sergio Orlandini was appointed to succeed Gerrit van der Wal as president of KLM.[10][30] At the time, KLM, as well as other airlines, had to deal with overcapacity. Orlandini proposed to convert KLM 747s to "combis" that could carry a combination of passengers and freight in a mixed configuration on the main deck of the aircraft.[10] In November 1975, the first of these seven Boeing 747-200B Combi aircraft were added to the KLM fleet.[11] The airline previously operated DC-8 passenger and freight combi aircraft as well and currently operates Boeing 747-400 combi aircraft.
The 1973 oil crisis, which caused difficult economic conditions, led KLM to seek government assistance in arranging debt refinancing. The airline issued additional shares of stock to the government in return for its money. In the late 1970s, the government's stake had again increased to a majority of 78%, effectively re-nationalizing it.[10] The company management remained under the control of private stakeholders.[11]
1980s and 1990s[edit source]
KLM Douglas DC-8-63 at London Heathrow Airport in 1982. The DC-8 was the mainstay of the KLM narrowbody jet fleet.
A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operated by Northwest Airlines (tail number N237NW) in a hybrid Northwest-KLM livery (1999). This photo shows the starboard (above) and port side of the aircraft (below).
In 1980, KLM carried 9,715,069 passengers. In 1983, it reached an agreement with Boeing to upgrade ten of its Boeing 747-200 aircraft (Three 747-200Bs and seven 747-200Ms) with the stretched-upper-deck modification. The work started in 1984 at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, and finished in 1986. The converted aircraft were called Boeing 747-200SUD or 747-300, which the airline operated in addition to three newly built Boeing 747-300s manufactured from the ground up. In 1983, KLM took delivery of the first of ten Airbus A310 passenger jets.[10] Sergio Orlandini retired in 1987 and was succeeded as president of KLM by Jan de Soet.[31] In 1986, the Dutch government's shareholding in KLM was reduced to 54.8 percent.[10] It was expected that this share would be further reduced during the decade.[10] The Boeing 747-400 was introduced into KLM's fleet in June 1989.[11]
With the liberalization of the European market, KLM started developing its hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by feeding its network with traffic from affiliated airlines.[10] As part of its development of a worldwide network, KLM acquired a 20% stake in Northwest Airlines in July 1989.[11] In 1990, KLM carried 16,000,000 passengers. KLM president Jan de Soet retired at the end of 1990 and was succeeded in 1991 by Pieter Bouw.[32] In December 1991, KLM was the first European airline to introduce a frequent flyer loyalty program, which was called Flying Dutchman.[11]