As a member of the IATA Board of Governors, KLM CEO Marjan Rintel is the voice of the Netherlands in this international trade association for the world's airlines. Her position is important for KLM, considering the enormous challenges facing the sector. The IATA, representing around 290 airlines from 120 countries, aims to shape a safe, secure and sustainable air transport industry. 

On Friday morning (09:05 hours local time), KLM will operate its first flight (KL838) from Denpasar to Singapore (arriving 11:35 hours local time), continuing on to Amsterdam (arriving 19:35 hours local time). KLM is presently contacting its passengers personally, including passengers for whom their KLMticket forms part of a package deal booked by another travel organisation. Passengers who have already established contact with the KLM Social Media will be assisted accordingly.

KLM is doing everything possible to transport its passengers from Denpasar to their final destinations as soon as possible. What’s more, KLM is also checking to see if passengers can be rebooked to fly with another KLM partner airline to their final destinations.

Exclusive
Farah Quinn is the first Indonesian celebrity chef with whom KLM is cooperating. Passengers travelling in KLM’s World Business Class and Economy Class will be served exclusive meals created by the leading chef on the Jakarta – Kuala Lumpur and Singapore – Denpasar routes. Passengers travelling to Amsterdam will also be able to enjoy her dishes because the flight from Indonesia heads to Amsterdam via Kuala Lumpur.

Unique composition
KLM’s cooperation with leading chef Masanori Tomikawa, with his Michelin-star restaurants Yamazato and Sazanka in Hotel Okura Amsterdam, harks back to 2010. In cooperation with KLM, Tomikawa is responsible for the meals served on board flights to Japan. The Japanese dishes served in KLM’s World Business Class and Economy Class are inspired by Tomikawa. This cooperative relationship is unique because not only are the Japanese dishes served on flights from KLM’s home base Schiphol developed by the chef, but so are the Japanese dishes served on board flights from Japan to Amsterdam. In Japan, he heads up workshops to create the summer and winter menus and align them with preparations from Schiphol.

Pictures: Natascha Libbert 

KLM’s ambition to be the most customer-centric European airline, led to the development of a device that expands the service of its crew beyond planes and airport. KLM crew filled the KLM Care Tag with hundreds of practical tips about the city of Amsterdam. Not the standard tourist tips, but insightful tips ranging from busy intersections with a lot of cyclists, where and how to lock your bike and when you have to watch out for pickpockets. But also more lighthearted tips such as where to taste local food for free, where to see great street art or where to rent a bike or boat. With the Care Tag you always have someone that guides you through the city.

Busy Amsterdam

Over the last couple of years Amsterdam has rapidly become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. January this year for the first time over 1 million people visited the city. By the year 2025 this will increase with 30%. Together with Paris and Lisbon it hosts the most visitors per inhabitant in Europe.

Limited availability

The KLM care tag can only in September be ordered online for free by passengers who travel to Amsterdam. Passengers who are interested, can simply order it, but availability is limited. The first batch of Care Tags will only be available in English but later this year there will be more Care Tags available in Chinese, Portuguese, German and Russian.

Interested in reading more about Amsterdam, click on the link KLM Blog.

KLM will also expand its service to the islands of Aruba and Bonaire with an extra flight on Sundays. These flights will be operated using Airbus 330-300 equipment seating 292 passengers.

Outline of flights to the Netherlands Antilles as of 30 October 2016:

KLM has close ties with Amsterdam, which is the airline’s key hub for passengers travelling to and from destinations worldwide. In addition, KLM has for several years had a partnership with Amsterdam Marketing, with a view to attracting more international visitors to the city.

The biofuel for this series of flights is produced from 100% RSB (Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials) certified camelina oil and in full compliance with the EU RED standard. The biofuel is produced within the ITAKA (Initiative Towards SustAinable Kerosene for Aviation) project and supplied by Air BP and SkyNRG. The ITAKA consortium was founded by leading companies operating in the airline and fuel industries. Together, they are working on producing and testing sustainable biofuel in the airline industry. In achieving this goal, they receive financial support from the European Commission.

The biofuel flights are partly funded by the partners in the KLM Corporate BioFuel Programme: ABN AMRO, Accenture, CBRE Global Investors, FMO, FrieslandCampina, City of Amsterdam, Heineken, Loyens & Loeff, PGGM, Perfetti Van Melle and the Schiphol Group.

KLM’s aim is to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% per passenger in 2020 (compared to 2011 levels) through fleet renewal, using sustainable biofuel and increasing flight efficiency. Because affordable sustainable biofuel is not always available, KLM also aims to stimulate the market for sustainable biofuel. KLM is “best in class” when it comes to fuel efficiency and leads the field with respect to using sustainable biofuel.

KLM’s recent inclusion of the E175 from Embraer in its fleet ties in with the airline’s aim to further reduce CO2 emissions. This aircraft type is significantly more fuel-efficient in comparison with the current Fokker 70 equipment, and is therefore more environmentally friendly. Using 18% less fuel, it also generates an 18% reduction in CO2 emissions.

The “Layover with a Local” app will be available from mid-March and the service is initially for travellers departing from the United States, Canada and Italy. To sign up in advance, click klm.com/layover

KLM Curacao Marathon
KLM is also the title sponsor of the second edition of the KLM Curacao Marathon, which will be held in Willemstad on Sunday, 29 November 2015. This event is organised by the Run in the Sun Foundation.

KLM’s strategy is to further develop Amsterdam as a gateway between Europa and China, together with Chinese partners like Xiamen Airlines. KLM and its Chinese partners annually carry more than a million passengers between Amsterdam and eight destinations in Greater China, offering codeshare services to 30 destinations beyond these cities.

Xiamen Airlines has been profitable for 28 consecutive years, which is a unique record. Similar to KLM, both are members of SkyTeam. The Xiamen Airlines flights will operate in code share with KLM.

Similar to KLM, both are members of SkyTeam. The Xiamen Airlines flights will operate in code share with KLM.

KLM and China

KLM offers 57 flights every week to Greater China together with its partner, China Southern Airlines. KLM is the single largest supplier of air travel to China from Europe with eight direct destinations: Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hangzhou and Chengdu, and Taipei in Taiwan. The eighth Chinese destination is Guangzhou, which China Southern airlines will operate. Xiamen, Chengdu and Hangzhou are two unique KLM destinations in China. No other European airlines offers nonstop flights to Xiamen and Hangzhou.

KLM cooperates with five Chinese airlines: China Southern, China Eastern, Xiamen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines from mainland China, and China Airlines in Taiwan. China Southern airlines is China’s largest airline. In 2007, SkyTeam welcomed China Southern Airlines as its first Chinese carrier. KLM and China Southern Airlines have been working closely since November 2001.On 21 November 2012, Xiamen Airlines joined SkyTeam. The partners ensure that secondary airports which KLM does not serve are easily accessible by offering short connection times. Every year, KLM transports a million passengers to and from China.

With more than 200 aircraft, 171 destinations and 240,000 aircraft movements, KLM’s network connects Amsterdam to all of the world’s important economic regions. This makes it an important driver for the Dutch economy. On 7 October 1919, the Royal Aviation Company for the Netherlands and its Colonies (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën) — also known as KLM — was founded. That means KLM has been around for ninety-four years. It makes KLM the world’s oldest airline still operating under its original name.

“In cooperation with the City Wide Congresses Taskforce, Amsterdam RAI will now include KLM in all its tenders for exhibitions, conferences and other events,” says Hans Bakker, Chairman of the Board of Amsterdam RAI. Taskforce City Wide Congresses is a partnership between Amsterdam RAI, the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board (ATCB), Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam public transport company GVB, Amsterdam taxi service TCA, hotels and the Economic Affairs department of the city of Amsterdam. The Taskforce’s goal is to efficiently organise multiple bids for large events.

Air France & KLM Global Meetings
Air France & KLM Global Meetings offer organisers of exhibitions, conferences and events a free online tool that is unique within the aviation industry. It enables organisers to make their event more attractive to visitors and exhibitors by benefitting from a discount of five to ten percent on most published KLM and Air France fares. In addition, the organisers receive free tickets. “The attractive and flexible organisation of Amsterdam RAI combined with the ease and benefits of KLM’s Air France & KLM Global Meetings booking tool and its large number of flight destinations makes Amsterdam an even more attractive choice,” says Harm Kreulen, Director KLM Netherlands.

Promotion and services
KLM will also use its own media (in-flight and across its 70-plus markets) to inform potential visitors of the exhibitions, conferences and events. Amsterdam RAI will invest in optimising the visitor experience, including a service desk during international events for checking into or transferring flights.

Joint forces
The partnership will further strengthen the position of Amsterdam as main port and international exhibition and conference destination. And with KLM and its large network, the hub Schiphol and Amsterdam RAI, the Netherlands has a great deal to offer (international) exhibition and conference visitors. Amsterdam RAI is responsible for a significant part of the annual business tourism in Amsterdam, while the KLM Group flies directly to Amsterdam from 185 airports worldwide, offering direct connections to most of the world’s major economic regions. As a member of the SkyTeam alliance, KLM is part of a network that connects 921 destinations in 168 countries.

About Amsterdam RAI
With a portfolio of ‘A’ brands, the ultimate ‘A’ location in the city of Amsterdam and a history dating back to 1893, Amsterdam RAI is one of Europe’s most attractive and innovative exhibition complexes. It hosts over 50 national and international conferences, 70 (trade) exhibitions, events and over 1,000 smaller conferences, meetings, presentations and other gatherings a year.
The success of Amsterdam RAI is in part due to its excellent location: The largest exhibition and convention centre in the Netherlands is just 15 minutes from Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam city centre. The 11 multi-functional exhibition halls (87,000m²), the new Elicium building and the 22 conference halls are an integral part of a dynamic world city.