Network, technology and innovation have always played an important role in moving KLM forward, by making travel easy and creating memorable experiences for its customers. KLM was the first western airline in China to offer servicing on WeChat and Weibo in 2014, and opened its first flagship store on Alitrip (Fliggy) in 2016. The Netherlands and China are well connected by KLM and partner airlines, serving 8 destinations non-stop from Amsterdam to/from Greater China, with 67 weekly flights, connecting to over 50 KLM codeshare destinations in China, flying over 1.6 million passengers per year.

MoU KLM and Xiamen Airlines

The MoU between Xiamen Airlines and KLM was signed by Che Shanglun, Chairman of Xiamen Airlines and Pieter Elbers, President and CEO of KLM. Under the framework of this agreement, KLM Engineering & Maintenance will provide maintenance of 138 Leap engines for the new Boeing 737 Max operated by Xiamen Airlines.

Pieter Elbers commented: “This agreement intensifies our relationship and confirms once more KLM's expertise and competence in the area of high-grade engine maintenance, thereby securing job related opportunities in Amsterdam.”

Che Shanglun, Chairman of Xiamen Airlines commented: “Following earlier successful maintenance contracts between Xiamen Airlines and KLM, the signing of this MoU will lead to even closer ties and wider cooperation between our two airlines in the future.”

MoU KLM and Ctrip

The MoU between Ctrip and KLM was signed by Jane Sun Jie, CEO of Ctrip.com and Pieter Elbers, President and CEO of KLM. This MoU is a first step towards a strategic partnership agreement in which Ctrip and KLM will work on a set of projects to enhance the offer to Chinese consumers ranging from distribution and marketing to loyalty programs. For Ctrip as largest online travel agency, this is the sole strategic partnership with any European airline.

Pieter Elbers commented: “With so many complementary areas across our businesses and supply chains, the partnership with Ctrip has the potential to help us realize significant innovations in areas including customer service, data operations, flight route development and product marketing. This will help to solidify and grow The Netherlands’ position as the ’Gateway to Europe’ for Chinese travelers and enterprises."

Ctrip’s CEO Sun Jie commented: “With the great opportunities presented by the EU-China Tourism Year in general and the agreement with KLM in particular, Ctrip will help more Chinese tourists travel to Europe, broadening horizons and benefiting business partners in the region.”

Paying for a KLM ticket has become simple: once a passenger booked a ticket on KLM.com via desktop, and chooses WeChat as the preferred payment option, a QR code appears. Users scan this code which refers them to WeChat Pay, the money is amortized and a successful payment is done. If a customer booked a ticket on mobile or via the WeChat app, and chooses WeChat as the preferred payment option, the customer is automatically referred to WeChat Pay and able to pay for the ticket easily. Users need to bind their bankcard only once to use WeChat Pay.

KLM on WeChat
KLM opened a WeChat account in 2014 offering her Chinese passengers service, brand content and commercial offers via the platform. Since May 2017, KLM customers have the choice to receive their booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding pass and flight status updates via WeChat. So far nearly 25% of all Chinese KLM customers booking online, receive their flight info via WeChat. KLM gets over 8000 servicing questions a week, mainly in Simplified Chinese.

About KLM and Social Media
Since 2009 KLM gained a reputation as an initiator and pioneer in the area of social media services and campaigns in the social landscape. In April 2017, KLM had over 25 million fans and followers on various social media platforms. Through these channels, KLM receives over 100,000 mentions every week, 15,000 of which are questions or remarks. These are personally replied to by 250 service agents, forming the world’s largest dedicated social media team. On Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, WeChat and KakaoTalk (Korean) KLM offers her customers a 24/7 one-stop-shop in 9 different languages: Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. During office hours KLM also services in Italian. KLM was the first airline worldwide to offer customers the option to receive flight documents and status updates via Messenger. KLM also offers this service on Twitter and WeChat.

KLM has opted for Sina Weibo and WeChat because these are very popular social media channels in China.

With this new addition, KLM now offers its social media service in eleven languages: Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. To better serve ever more passengers, KLM intends to expand its range of languages in the coming period.

Oriental City is located in the heart of Amsterdam, just 10 minutes’ walk from Central Station. The restaurant was established more than 25 years ago and is renowned for its Cantonese kitchen, headed by Chinese chefs from Hong Kong. The Cantonese style is one of eight Chinese “haute cuisines” and is renowned for its delicate and innovative character. With its endless range of creative variations, Cantonese cuisine always guarantees sensational flavours and endless delights. Oriental City is a trendsetter in this innovative tradition and recently extended its range with the delectable Szechuan style. These new delicacies offer passengers a whole new range of tasty and spicy flavours from the KLM kitchen.

KLM has a longstanding tradition of working with leading chefs to create meals for its Business Class Passengers. By partnering with top chefs and sommeliers, KLM continues to invest in inflight service. Next up is master chef Onno Kokmeijer, whose meals will be served in World Business Class on non-China-bound KLM flights out of Amsterdam in October and November.