Bruce Hales-Dutton reviews a century of the Flying Dutchman, from its first Fokkers to the Dreamliner’s debut.
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën: it’s almost as impressive when translated into English. Either way, Royal Dutch Airlines for the Netherlands and its Colonies, more usually known simply as KLM, is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
Its creation was largely due to the vision and persuasive powers of one man: Albert Plesman was 26 when he joined the Luchtvaartafdeling – the Dutch Army’s aviation department. The son of an egg trader from The Hague, Plesman developed an unshakeable belief in the future of commercial aviation.
He demonstrated his organisational flair by managing a highly successful aviation exhibition in Amsterdam in August and September 1919. Two large halls were built for the occasion and they were subsequently operated by Anthony Fokker for his newly formed aircraft manufacturing company. In the years to come, KLM and Fokker would become closely associated.
By September 1919, Plesman was talking bankers into backing his idea of an international airline. Queen Wilhelmina visited the exhibition and Plesman persuaded the monarch to grant the nascent airline the right to the ‘Royal’ prefix. The operation was formally established on October 7, 1919 and a fortnight later it moved into its first office on Heerengracht in The Hague.
The deed of incorporation was signed in March 1920, enabling operations to begin, but first the airline had to acquire aircraft and pilots. KLM’s management established contact with UK-based Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T) to discuss options for launching the new airline. The idea of joint operations was explored, but it was decided instead to lease aircraft and crews from AT&T.
So it was that on May 17, 1920, Airco DH.16, G-EALU Arras, landed at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, captained by British pilot H ‘Jerry’ Shaw. He had flown from London’s Croydon Airport with two passengers, a selection of London newspapers and a message from the Lord Mayor of London to the Burgomaster of Amsterdam. The passengers were two British journalists and by all accounts their 135-minute flight across the North Sea had been somewhat rough. At times, bad weather forced the aircraft down to just 300ft above the waves.
The aircraft was a converted DH.9 bomber with an enclosed passenger cabin behind the pilot, which could accommodate four passengers in facing pairs. Similar aircraft were used by AT&T to fly KLM services on the route to Amsterdam until it closed down in December 1920. KLM acquired four of AT&T’s aircraft to enable it to maintain the services. Initially, they were flown on alternate days, then every day. By July 1921 they were operating twice daily.
On October 31, operations were suspended for the winter. In five months, the airline had carried 345 passengers and 55,116lbs (25,000kg) of cargo. Services were resumed the following April, but now with Dutchbuilt equipment. Initially, its fleet numbered 11 Fokker F.IIIs, but an additional example was added in 1922. These machines brought a refinement which the DH.16s had lacked. For one thing, passengers were no longer required to carry cargo between their legs.
KLM opened what is believed to have been the first airline booking office, in Amsterdam’s Leidseplein on May 9, 1921. By 1926, it was offering connections from Amsterdam to a range of European cities including Brussels, Paris, Bremen, Copenhagen and Malmo in addition to London. In October 1924, the airline had flown its first intercontinental flight, from Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta) on the Island of Java in a Fokker F.VII. Five years later, it became a scheduled operation on what was then the world’s longest route. It would be maintained until the outbreak of World War Two. The quickest time for the journey was established in December 1933 when a Fokker F.XVIII took just over four days with a load of Christmas mail.
Although Fokker had established itself as a leader in the manufacture of commercial aircraft, its products were largely made of wood. But the superior all-metal airliner was on the way and KLM was an early customer for the Douglas DC-2. It was quick to demonstrate its potential.
In October 1934, DC-2, PH-AJU ‘Uiver’, was entered in the prestigious MacRobertson Air Race from Mildenhall, Suffolk, to Melbourne, organised to mark the Australian city’s centenary. The clean aerodynamic design of the all-metal monoplane with its two powerful engines and retractable undercarriage was much admired and, although a de Havilland DH.88 Comet built specially for racing took outright victory, Uiver won the event on handicap. This was seen as almost as significant as winning outright for, with its 14 passenger seats and revenue-generating potential, the DC-2 clearly represented the future. In the state-of-the-art DC-2, Albert Plesman saw a way for KLM to seize technical leadership among European airlines. Indeed, the new Americanbuilt aircraft offered a big step forward in passenger-appeal. The journey to Batavia by DC-2 could now be completed in six days and 57 hours’ flying time. Frequency was raised to two services a week. In 1935 alone, KLM was able to launch new routes from Amsterdam to Prague, Frankfurt and Milan.
Fokker’s response to the DC-2 was the four-engined F.XXXVI. KLM’s sole example, PH-AJA Arend, served the airline from 1935 to 1939. This ponderous machine with its fixed undercarriage could carry up to 32 passengers in four compartments. The seats could be transformed into beds, enabling the aircraft to sleep 16. ‘The Flying Hotel’ was first operated on the Dutch East Indies route, but after the introduction of the DC-2 it was used on European routes including between Amsterdam and the island of Texel.
Into War
By contrast, KLM would operate 18 DC-2s but an improved variant was on the way. KLM would field 22 DC-3s and from 1940 to 1944 these aircraft enabled the airline to continue operations despite the Netherlands itself sweated under enemy occupation. The handful of DC-3s, in fact, symbolised the Dutch struggle for freedom.
Even though most of KLM’s European links had already been suspended, the airline suffered badly in the German invasion of May 1940. Seven aircraft were flown unscathed to Whitchurch, Bristol, from where, three months later, KLM operated its first wartime service. The flight to Lisbon was made under charter to British Overseas Airways Corporation and would be the first of many. With most of Europe occupied by the Nazis, neutral Portugal’s capital was an important transit hub and KLM’s Bristol-Lisbon rotation continued throughout the war. The frequency was increased and extended to Gibraltar in 1942.
It was not without its hazards. In June 1943, one of KLM’s DC-3s, G-AGBB, was shot down in flames over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s. All on board were killed, including British film star Leslie Howard who had been on a lecture tour of neutral Spain and Portugal. After the war, captured Luftwaffe records indicated the interception had been planned.
…the superior all-metal airliner was on the way and KLM was an early customer for the Douglas DC-2
It was rumoured that one of the passengers bore a striking resemblance to Winston Churchill who had been attending a conference in Algiers. However, it was just as likely that the Germans had been repeating previous attacks on aircraft flying the route, which they were anxious to stop. But it continued, as did KLM flights between England and the West Indies.
But Java flights stopped with the Japanese invasion of 1942. Some aircraft escaped to Australia, among them the rare Douglas DC-5s. KLM had four of the high-wing Douglas twins and subsequently used them on flights between the Netherlands Antilles (now Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius), Suriname and Kingston, Jamaica. This was later extended to include Miami, giving KLM a wartime presence in the USA.
However, the DC-5 was not one of Douglas’ more successful designs and Lockheed 14 Super Electras were also used in the Antilles from September 1943. By this time the improved 28-passenger C-47 – a militarised DC-3 variant – was being used on the Gibraltar service, but the liberation of Holland in 1944 signalled a new era. The reconstruction of Schiphol was a huge task, but aircraft were operating from temporarily patched runways within a month.
In fact, the nucleus of a European network was already in place by the time the guns fell silent. The war had left the Dutch railway system crippled and in September 1945 KLM opened a network of domestic services from Amsterdam to cities like Groningen in the north and Maastricht in the south. De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapides leased from the government were used. The first post-war international route, from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and Malmö, was opened in December.
It was just a year after the end of the war in Europe that The Netherlands was able to establish air links with the USA
With the Far Eastern territories in revolt against colonial rule following the ending of the Japanese occupation, re-establishing air links with the Netherlands was considered a priority.
But KLM lacked suitable aircraft so in April 1945 Plesman, freed from wartime German internment, went to Washington to seek American help. After an initial rebuff, he met then-President Harry S Truman in the White House and used his formidable powers of persuasion to secure the release of 18 US government-owned Douglas C-54s – militarised DC-4s – on a ‘fly now, pay later’ basis. Meanwhile, the smaller C-47s were forming the backbone of KLM’s immediate post-war fleet.
It was just a year after the end of the war in Europe that the Netherlands was able to establish air links with the USA following the negotiation of a bi-lateral air services agreement. On May 21, 1946 KLM became the first European airline to operate regular connections across the North Atlantic. DC-4 Rotterdam took 21 hours’ flying time for the journey from Schiphol to New York via Glasgow and Gander in Newfoundland. From then on, services were operated twice a week. They were so popular that in 1946 alone, another 33 flights were added. By 1950, the airline was offering daily services on the New York route.
Services to Montreal had been launched the previous year and, in 1957, Houston and Anchorage were added to the list of transatlantic destinations. Two years later, KLM opened a new office on the corner of 49th Street and Fifth Avenue, New York. At the time it was the largest airline office in the city and was declared open by movie star Audrey Hepburn.
In November 1946, KLM launched a twice-weekly service to Batavia and the following April was able to link Curaçao and Paramaribo, Suriname, with the home nation once more – an operation that had originally started in December 1934 with Fokker F.XVIIIs but was stopped due to World War Two.
Further South American operations followed and by March 1947, the airline had entered the South African market with services to Johannesburg.
By 1950, KLM’s annual report was calling the airline “a rapidly developing company”, with 78 aircraft carrying 381,000 passengers annually. It had become the first carrier in Europe to operate the elegant Lockheed L-049 Constellation, taking delivery of six in 1946. Then came the improved L-749s, 20 of which arrived between 1947 and 1951, followed by the further improved L-1049 Super Constellations. The ultimate ‘Connie’ was the H model – three of which arrived in 1958. The carrier also received 17 Douglas DC-6s between 1948 and 1953.
These new aircraft formed the basis of KLM’s post-war long-haul expansion. Manila and Tokyo were added to the network in 1951, followed by Mexico City. For short-haul routes Convair CV-240s were acquired. They were later replaced by the bigger 44-seat CV-340s. Altogether, KLM received 26 examples of the Convair twin between 1948 and 1954.
Flying was now becoming accessible to a wider range of people. Following a general trend towards lower fares, KLM began offering tourist class accommodation in 1952. Six years later, economy class was introduced to increase the demand for air travel still further.
On December 31, 1953, KLM suffered a major loss with the sudden death of its founder and chief executive, Albert Plesman. At the age of 64, he had suffered an abdominal haemorrhage. In a tribute, the airline’s board said:
“The 34 years of KLM’s existence are inseparably linked with the name of Plesman. As the founder and builder, but above all, the indefatigable leader of the company, he made KLM his life’s work.”
In his final year, Plesman had presided over an increase to almost a million passengers a year and a repeat of KLM’s 1934 success with victory in the handicap section of the London to Christchurch Air Race, this time with a DC-6A. The aircraft took around 44 hours to complete the 12,270-mile (19,747km) journey. It would become known as ‘the bride flight’ because of the number of young women on board who were travelling to New Zealand to meet their future husbands.
But although it didn’t want the Comet, the airline did order the turboprop Vickers Viscount for short-haul operations.
The Jet Age
But KLM could hardly fail to be aware the world was changing. In 1952, air transport had entered the jet age and although other airlines had placed orders for the de Havilland DH.106 Comet, Plesman’s view was that it was untried and not entirely suited to KLM operations. In any case, the airline had a substantial fleet of piston-engined aircraft on order.
But although it didn’t want the Comet, the airline did order the turboprop Vickers Viscount for shorthaul operations. In fact, it became the first airline outside Britain to have the enlarged V.800 model. Sir Sefton Brancker, the first of nine named after aviation pioneers, was delivered in 1957. It was the piston-engined DC-7C that inaugurated the over-the-Pole service from Amsterdam to Japan by way of Anchorage, Alaska, in November 1958. This was seen as an exciting new way of travelling between Europe and Asia and it cut the journey time compared with the previous routing via Manila. No wonder the twice-weekly service proved popular with passengers.
KLM had 15 85-seat DC-7s which flew the route twice a week. They were also used on the carrier’s round-the-world service from Amsterdam. Flying time was 72 hours and 45 minutes The route took the aircraft over largely uninhabited territory and, to ensure that its crews were prepared for dealing with an emergency landing in polar regions, they underwent a two-week survival course in the snowy forests near Anchorage.
The courses were run by survival expert Alan Innes-Taylor, who taught crews such skills as using a lifeboat as a tent and building a fire in freezing conditions. Aircraft flying the route carried special survival gear, including sleeping bags designed by Taylor, axes, hunting knives and a semi- automatic rifle to provide protection against polar bears.
The airline’s route network now included 104 destinations in 73 countries. The arrival in 1959 and ‘60 of KLM’s 12-strong fleet of Lockheed L-188 Electras suggested it was still hedging its bets in its choice of equipment, but jets were on order. The turboprop type may have had a generally troubled service introduction, but KLM worked with the manufacturer to solve its problems.
The Electras were initially operated on routes within Africa and the Middle East, while the airline’s first jet, the Douglas DC-8, went into service on the prestigious Amsterdam-New York route. The first of the quad jets, a DC-8-33 delivered in March 1960, was named Albert Plesman. All told, KLM operated more than 30 examples: the -33s, turbofan-powered -53s, -55s and -55Fs, as well as Pratt & Whitney JT3Dpowered Super Sixties.
In 1968, KLM became the first airline to operate the 244-seat DC-8-63. Its capacity enabled the airline to operate 75 peak season scheduled transatlantic services a week from Amsterdam’s expanded Schiphol airport.
Meanwhile, the short-haul fleet was also being re-equipped with jets. Remaining faithful to Douglas products, KLM became the first European airline to operate the DC-9- 10 twinjet. In the 1960s and 70s KLM would take delivery of more than 20 DC-9s, again in a variety of variants: -15s, -32s and -33s. All were named after European cities and were used on the airline’s European and Middle Eastern routes.
Queen of the Skies
The pace of technological change continued with the arrival in February 1971 of KLM’s first widebody aircraft, a Boeing 747-206B. The airline had ordered three in 1967 at a total cost of £30m, but later increased this to six, all of which were named after rivers. All were delivered during 1971.
It was one of these aircraft which was to become involved in what is still classed as the worst disaster in commercial aviation history. On March 27, 1977 a total of 583 passengers and crew died when PH-BUF (c/n 20400) collided in thick fog at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, with another 747 operated by Pan American World Airways. The two aircraft had spent several hours waiting for the fog to clear and the collision happened when they were attempting to leave. Neither crew was aware of other’s proximity until it was too late.
Although KLM had been and would remain a loyal Douglas customer, the Boeing product was the only widebody type then available. KLM was the first airline to put the higher gross weight -200B into service, configuring them with 353 passenger seats, six galleys and 12 toilets. Named Mississippi, PH-BUA (c/n 19922) was introduced on the Amsterdam-New York route on February 15, 1971.
Strong traffic growth characterised the early 1970s: the airline carried 2.5m passengers in the first year of the new decade, rising to 3.5m in 1972. A jumbo-sized hangar was built at Schiphol and a new company headquarters opened 20 minutes’ drive from the airport. More new destinations were offered, including Dubai, Quito, Bahrain and Toronto.
By now, McDonnell-Douglas was able to offer a widebody type and KLM ordered the new tri-jet from California. It considered the 275-seat DC-10-30 ideal for services to Jakarta and other Far Eastern destinations. By 1975, the first of the 747 ‘Combis’, able to carry both passengers and freight, was delivered.
But the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973 hit the airline hard and it wasn’t until late in the decade that the position began to improve with 3.7 million passengers uplifted in 1977/78. Still, some external help was required. Having reduced its stake to 49.5% in 1966, the Dutch state now raised its holding to 78%. By 1980, KLM annual passenger numbers had rocketed to 9.7 million passengers.
In 1983, KLM contracted with Boeing to convert ten of its 747-200s to stretched upper deck configuration. They were operated alongside the three extended 747-300s which it had ordered that year. By 1989, the 747- 400 had been introduced. But the airline was now turning to a new manufacturer with the arrival of the first of ten Airbus A310s.
KLM’s corporate expansion had begun in 1966 with the launch of NLM (Netherlands Airlines), later NLM CityHopper. In 1988, it took over NetherLines, which was merged with Cityhopper in 1991 to form KLM Cityhopper.
In 1989, KLM took a 20% stake in the US carrier Northwest Airlines as a step towards development of a worldwide network. US anti-trust immunity, granted in 1993, enabled the two partners to consolidate their partnership in which KLM raised its stake to 25%.In 1996, it took a 26% holding in Kenya Airways and, two years later, was able to buy out the Dutch government’s holding to become a totally private sector operation.
There were other significant developments in the 1990s. KLM became the first European airline to introduce a frequent flyer loyalty programme and its name echoed the legend displayed on KLM aircraft for many decades: Flying Dutchman (since renamed Flying Blue). The liberalisation of the European air travel market saw KLM develop its Schiphol hub by feeding its network with traffic from affiliated airlines. It also meant that it faced growing competition from a new breed of low-cost carriers which would squeeze its short-haul market share.
New Millennium
In 1997, KLM took control of regional carrier Air UK in which it already held a 45% stake. Re-named KLM UK, the carrier launched new routes from London City serving KLM’s Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. From January 2000 the routes not serving Amsterdam were either closed or transferred to KLM’s new low-cost operation Buzz, which operated 14 point-to-point routes from Stansted with BAe 146-300s.
In 2002, what remained of KLM UK was integrated into KLM Cityhopper while Buzz was sold to Ryanair the following year.
Early in the new millennium, KLM announced plans to replace the Boeing 767-300ERs, introduced in 1995, together with the remaining 747s and MD-11s, with Boeing 777-200ERs and Airbus A330-200s. The first 777 arrived in 2003 and went into service on the Amsterdam-Toronto route, while the A330 made its debut two years later connecting the Dutch capital with Washington.
On September 30, 2003 a major change in KLM’s status was signalled with the announcement of a merger with Air France. The two airlines would become subsidiaries of a holding company called Air France-KLM, but retain their own brands. Paris-de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol airports would be the key hubs. The airlines said the partnership would create the world’s biggest airline group and bring annual savings of up to €500m.
The merger was not unexpected. For years observers had been saying Europe had too many airlines and the traffic downturn that followed the ‘9/11’ terrorist attacks hastened the consolidation process. Having received European Commission and US Department of Justice approval, Air France-KLM became a reality in May 2004.
One consequence was the termination in 2010 of the 21-year alliance between KLM and Northwest Airlines, the US carrier subsequently merging with Delta Air Lines. The two groups remain associated through their membership of SkyTeam Airline Alliance. Since 2009, Air France-KLM has held a 25% stake in Italian carrier Alitalia.
Cityhopper’s first Embraer E-190 had arrived in April 2014 to preview a new livery scheduled to appear on all KLM aircraft. In 2015, KLM took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, named Tulip and launched its centenary celebrations with the arrival of its first 787-10 in June 2019. This aircraft, PH-BKA (c/n 42485), displayed a special livery and was christened Oranje Bloesem.
There have also been some significant departures from the fleet. The Fokker 50 was phased out in 2010, marking the end of the airline’s turboprop era with the last Fokker 100 going in November 2012 and the Fokker 70 in 2017. The MD-11 bowed out in 2014 with three valedictory flights over the Netherlands.
In 2018, KLM carried 34.1 million passengers – double the population of its home country – and 621,000 tonnes of cargo. KLM and KLM Cityhopper form the heart of the KLM Group. Operating through a network of 92 European cities and 70 intercontinental destinations, KLM offers direct services to key economic centres all over the world. It is a partner in the SkyTeam Alliance, which offers passengers even more possibilities, jointly serving 1,063 destinations in 173 countries.
The KLM Group also includes wholly owned subsidiaries, Transavia and Martinair. Transavia is the leading lowcost airline in the Netherlands, carrying almost nine million passengers in 2018, operating out of Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam.
Following the merger with Air France in 2004, KLM has pursued the concept of one group, two airlines and three core activities – passengers, cargo and engineering and maintenance. Dayto- day management of the Air France-KLM group is exercised through an executive committee responsible to an independent supervisory committee.
Pieter Elbers, the Dutch flag carrier’s president and chief executive, said: “Over the past 100 years, KLM has earned a superb reputation in international air transport. We have always embodied the typical Dutch pioneering and enterprising spirit, which remains an integral part of our brand. I look back on the past 100 years with pride, but also look forward with confidence to the challenges we face on the road ahead.”
We have always embodied the typical Dutch pioneering and enterprising spirit, which remains an integral part of our brand… Pieter Elbers, KLM's president and chief executive
