Today, October 7th 2024, marks the 105th birthday of Dutch carrier KLM. The airline is the oldest in the world which still operates under it’s original name.
Let’s take a look back at the airline’s rich history!
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Rewind Back to 1919: Creation & Wartime Operations…
The KLM brand originated from an aviation exhibition in Amsterdam back in 1919.
This was spearheaded by a young aviator named Albert Plesman. Attendance at this exhibition stood at over half a million, and after it closed, commercial interest was strong to establish an airline in the Netherlands.
By September of that year, Queen Wilhelmina awarded the yet to be founded carrier with a Royal predicate.
On October 7th, 1919, eight Dutch businessmen founded K LM as one of the first commercial airlines, with Albert Plesman assigned as the first administrator and director.
By May 1920, the first flight from London Croydon Airport to Amsterdam took place using a leased de Havilland DH-16 aircraft. By the end of 1920, KLM had handled just 440 passengers and 22 tons of freight, which back then was a big deal.
The winter of 1920 saw the airline pause operations before resuming operations again in April 1921 using Fokker 2 and Fokker 3 aircraft. It was at that point that the airline had started scheduled services.
Within three years, KLM started exploring intercontinental flights, with the first experimental flight taking place on October 1st, 1924, which is now 100 years ago.
By September 1929, the airline had regular scheduled services between Amsterdam and Batavia following a few years of successes on the intercontinental route. Until World War 2, this was the world’s longest-distance scheduled service by aircraft.
Between 1926 and 1929, KLM was already offering flights to the likes of Rotterdam, Brussels, Paris, London, Bremen, Copenhagen and Malmo.
The 30s…
By the end of the 1920s, KLM had handled over 15,000 passengers, a significant improvement over the previous 10 years.
In 1936, KLM received Douglas DC-3 aircraft, which enabled the airline to replace it’s older DC-2 aircraft on the Amsterdam-Batavia-Sydney flights. Two years after, KLM became the first airline to serve Manchester’s new Ringway Airport.
As the Second World War developed, this restricted KLM’s operations, with many flights over France & Germany prohibited, with the airline having to paint it’s aircraft orange to prevent confusion by allied and axis forces, reducing the risk of the aircraft being shot down. During the war also, KLM had to send their aircraft out to military deployment, which resulted in them signing lease agreements with BOAC to keep scheduled flights going.
On top of this, whilst European operations were restricted, KLM offered flights in and around the Caribbean to remain afloat.
The 40s…
By the end of the second world war, KLM began to rebuild it’s network and by May 1946, they became the first continental European carrier to start transatlantic flights between Amsterdam and New York, utilising the newer Douglas DC-4 aircraft.
By 1948, KLM had a lot of their previous route network restored, which by 1950, enabled the airline to handle over 350,000 passengers. During the post-war period also, the Dutch Government expressed interest in gaining a majority stake, but Albert Plesman wanted the carrier to remain private, allowing the government to only take a minority stake in the airline at the time.
In December 1953, Plesman unfortunately died, with Fons Aler succeeding Plesman as the President of KLM. After his death, the airline entered a difficult time financially, with the conversion to jet aircraft costing the airline a lot of money.
This resulted in the Dutch Government increasing it’s ownership of the company to two-thirds, which resulted in a part-nationalisation of the airline. The next piston aircraft KLM acquired was the Douglas DC-7C, which enabled the airline to operate flights from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Anchorage.
It was after that point when the airline fully entered the jet age.
Entering The Jet Era…
By March 1960, KLM had began to dabble it’s hand in the jet era.
This was through the introduction of the Douglas DC-8 into it’s fleet. It was also at this point where the financial difficulty got somewhat worse.
In 1961, the airline had reported it’s first year of losses, with the then President Fons Aler replaced.
He was replaced by Ernst van der Beugel. T
His leadership change didn’t lead to a reversal of KLM’s financial position.
van der Beugel had to resign in 1963 on “health grounds”.
Horatius Albarda became his successor.
He began to reorganise the company, resulting in job losses and a reduction in flight services.
The luck in leadership changes continued to be negative.
Albarda had to be replaced due to his death in a plane crash.
Once again another appointment was made being Dr. Gerrit van der Wal.
van der Wal agreed a deal with the Dutch Government to reduce their stake to a 49.5% minority position.
This enabled KLM to become a private airline once again.
This enabled the airline to also introduce the Douglas DC-9 on European and Middle East routes.
By March 1967, the airline had placed an order for the Boeing 747.
They received delivery of the -200 variant by February 1971.
By 1972, KLM had also placed an order for the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.
This was an aircraft built in response to the 747.
The Disruptive 70s…
In the wake of the 1973 Oil Crisis, this forced KLM to once again speak with the Dutch Government about debt refinancing.
Additional shares had been issued and by 1978, the Dutch Government owned around 78% of the airline.
This once again resulted in a part-nationalisation of the carrier.
By the 1980s, KLM was handling close to 10 million passengers per year.
With that expansion saw orders for more Boeing 747 aircraft, as well as for the Airbus A310 too.
By 1986, after more successful years, KLM managed to reduce the Dutch Government’s stake from 78% down to 54.8%.
Such growth had also enabled KLM to acquire the Boeing 747-400.
This was the most popular variant of the jumbo jet by June 1989.
The 1990s saw KLM elevate it’s growth further by developing it’s hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
This was to the point that they were feeding their network with traffic from other carriers.
On top of this, KLM acquired a 20% stake in Northwest Airlines.
And at that point, had increased their annual passenger intake to 16 million passengers.
By December 1991, KLM became the first European airline to introduce a frequent flyer loyalty program known as the Flying Dutchman.
In January 1993, the USDOT granted KLM and Northwest Airlines anti-trust immunity, which enabled them to grow their partnership.
As part of a joint venture, flights between Amsterdam and the United States intensified.
Following this, the Dutch carrier increased their stake to 25% by 1994.
It was also in the 90’s where the fleet makeup of KLM had developed significantly.
They acquired aircraft such as the Boeing 767-300ER, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the Boeing 777-200ER and the Airbus A330-200.
The New Millennium…
The new millenium saw a new era for KLM.
In September 2003, the carrier had agreed a merger plan with Air France.
In this deal, they would become subsidiaries of a holding company that we now know as Air France-KLM today. By February 2004, this merger was approved by the European Commission and the United States Department of Justice.
Following Northwest Airlines’ merger with Delta Air Lines in 2008, it created a makeup where Air France-KLM and Delta became part of the SkyTeam alliance.
This was a membership that was ratified in September 2004.
In September 2010, KLM had made another move in the Dutch aviation space.
This was the integration of the Martinair passenger division into the mainline KLM feed. By November 2011, Martinair only provided cargo and maintenance within this.
By 2012, KLM had made history with the first transatlantic flight fueled partly by Sustainable Biofuels to Rio de Janeiro from Amsterdam. This was the longest distance any aircraft had flown on biofuels.
Between 2013 and 2014, the airline went through some more leadership changes.
Pieter Elbers, who is now the CEO of IndiGo, took the airline to it’s next step in it’s journey.
The Present Day…
In 2019, KLM celebrated it’s centennial anniversary, marking 100 years since the company had been founded.
However, the year after would provide another era in financial difficulty for the Dutch carrier.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, KLM had to cut a whopping 6,000 jobs from it’s operation. On top of this, the decision made by governments that all passengers and crew needing to be tested for COVID also had an impact on flights.
Despite this, in December 2021, Air France-KLM made an order for 100 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft.
This was to be divided between Transavia and KLM. The A321neos have recently been incorporated into the KLM & Transavia fleets in the last year or two.
After 2021, things began to restore once again for KLM.
They turned over strong profits and handled over 30 million passengers by 2023.
Nowadays, the airline has a fleet of 109 aircraft.
This focused mainly on Boeing at this point.
However, this is expected to shift to more of a equal split towards Airbus in the long-term future.
What Is Next For The Airline?
As briefly mentioned, KLM is in the process of starting it’s fleet renewal. The airline has started to receive Airbus A321neo aircraft, and has new Airbus A350 aircraft on the way over the next few years.
This is going to enable KLM to become a more cleaner, quieter and fuel-efficient airline, which will cut costs and enable further expansion as more aircraft are delivered in the future.
Over the last 105 years, KLM has gone through a lot of difficulty, but has come out the other side in a very strong position.
From it’s joint ventures in SkyTeam, to it’s relationship with Air France under the Air France-KLM name, KLM has made a name for itself as one of the staples of the European airline industry.
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