| IATA | ICAO | Callsign |
|---|---|---|
| KL | KLM | KLM |
In 1919, a young aviator lieutenant named Albert Plesman sponsored the ELTA aviation exhibition in Amsterdam. The exhibition was a great success; after it closed several Dutch commercial interests intended to establish a Dutch airline, which Plesman was nominated to head. In September 1919, Queen Wilhelmina awarded the yet-to-be-founded KLM its "Royal" ("Koninklijke") predicate. On 7 October 1919, eight Dutch businessmen, including Frits Fentener van Vlissingen, founded KLM as one of the first commercial airline companies. Plesman became its first administrator and director. KLM was founded on the 7th October 1919 and it is the national airline of the Netherlands with its headquarters in Amstelveen and with its hub at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The name KLM is an abbreviation of its full legal name, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Airlines). It is the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name.
The first KLM flight took place on 17 May 1920. KLM's first pilot, Jerry Shaw, flew from Croydon Airport, London to Amsterdam. The flight was flown using a leased Aircraft Transport and Travel De Havilland DH-16, registration G-EALU, and was carrying two British journalists and a number of newspapers. In 1920, KLM carried 440 passengers and 22 tons of freight. In April 1921, after a winter hiatus, KLM resumed its services using its own pilots and aircraft: Fokker F.II and Fokker F.III. In 1921, KLM started scheduled services. KLM's first intercontinental flight was initiated on the 1st of October 1924. The merger of KLM with Air France in May 2004 formed Air France–KLM, which is incorporated under French law with its headquarters in Paris. Both Air France and KLM continue to fly under their distinct brand names as subsidiaries of the group and are both part of the Skyteam alliance.
KLM is the core of the KLM Group, which includes the wholly-owned subsidiaries KLM Cityhopper, Transavia.com and Martinair.
KLM's frequent flyer program is called "Flying Blue" and the airline slogan is "journey's of Inspiration"
On the 14th November 2015 KLM welcomed its first of 13 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The first one is called “Anjer” (Carnation). All of KLM’s Dreamliners are named after flowers.
KLM is rated 19th best airline in the world (down from last years 22nd) according to Skytrax.
As of September 2018, the KLM fleet consists of the following aircraft
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | W | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A330-200 | 1 | — | 18 | 36 | 214 | 268 | |
| 8 | 30 | 35 | 178 | 243 | |||
| Airbus A330-300 | 5 | — | 30 | 40 | 222 | 292 | |
| Airbus A350-900 | — | 7 | TBA | Deliveries from 2021 to 2023 to replace Boeing 747-400 | |||
| Boeing 737-700 | 18 | — | var. | var. | var. | 142 | To be phased out by 2022 To be replaced by Boeing 737-800 |
| Boeing 737-800 | 27 | 4 | var. | var. | var. | 180 | Deliveries until 2022 |
| Boeing 737-900 | 5 | — | var. | var. | var. | 189 | PH-BXO in SkyTeam livery |
| Boeing 747-400 | 4 | — | 35 | 36 | 337 | 408 | To be phased out from 2020 To be replaced by Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-10 |
| Boeing 747-400M | 8 | — | 35 | 36 | 197 | 268 | |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 15 | — | 34 | 40 | 242 | 316 | |
| Boeing 777-300ER | 14 | — | 34 | 40 | 334 | 408 | PH-BVA in OrangePride livery; PH-BVD in SkyTeam livery |
| Boeing 787-9 | 13 | — | 30 | 48 | 216 | 294 | |
| Boeing 787-10 | — | 8 | 38 | 36 | 264 | 338 | Deliveries from 2019 to 2023 to replace Boeing 747-400 |
| KLM Cargo Fleet | |||||||
| Boeing 747-400ERF | 3 | — | Cargo | ||||
| Total | 120 | 19 | |||||
Information sourced from Wikipedia
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