The first flight departed Amsterdam on May 21, 1946, making stops in Prestwick, Scotland, and Gander, Canada, before reaching New York. On board the Douglas C-54 Skymaster were 32 passengers. With this route, KLM became the first European airline to establish a regular connection to the United States, ushering in a new era for transatlantic aviation. Today, KLM and partner Delta Air Lines jointly operate four daily flights between Amsterdam and New York. Last year, KLM carried nearly half a million passengers and more than 17 million kilograms of cargo on this route. This makes the connection important not only for leisure travelers and business passengers, but also for the transport of time-sensitive and high-value goods, such as pharmaceutical products, high-tech equipment, fashion and luxury items, e-commerce shipments, and industrial components. In addition, the route plays an important role in the logistics chain for perishable goods and other specialized cargo flows between Europe and North America. Via New York, KLM also offers travelers access to an extensive network of destinations across North America.

A spirit of pioneering

The launch of the route was made possible in part by the determination of Albert Plesman, founder of KLM. His efforts enabled KLM to move ahead of its competitors and become the first European airline to launch scheduled service to New York. That pioneering spirit has always remained a hallmark of KLM. In the decades that followed, the airline introduced successive new aircraft types on the New York route, from the Boeing 747 to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Today, KLM continues to invest in fleet renewal with the aim of flying cleaner, quieter, and more efficiently.

Anniversary celebrations

KLM is marking this special anniversary today with partners, colleagues, and passengers at The New York Historical museum. To commemorate the occasion, an exclusive Delft Blue miniature house of The New York Historical is unveiled. Produced in a limited edition of 300 pieces, it will be distributed exclusively to guests attending the event. Also opening today at The New York Historical is a temporary exhibition on the history of the route and the longstanding ties between the Netherlands and New York.

Aviodrome, the Dutch aviation museum, is also opening its new exhibition “The PH-TAR and the Journey to the New World” on Thursday, May 21. With this exhibition, the museum commemorates eighty years of transatlantic scheduled service between the Netherlands and the United States. Through historical imagery, the exhibition tells the story of KLM’s first transatlantic flight and highlights how remarkable the direct connection between the Netherlands and New York was at the time. Visitors can also see a Douglas DC-4 painted in the PH-TAR livery, the same type of aircraft used for this historic flight, with its interior carefully restored to its former glory. The exhibition  will be open to visitors from today through the end of 2027.

KLM and Hearst Create, which handles the concept and realisation of Holland Herald, arranged special cover project together with Dutch Design Week. Design studio RiveRoshan, artist Paco Raphael and graphic designer Suzanne Bakkum each created their own cover with their own unique interpretation of KLM’s anniversary, our home base Amsterdam, and “Dutchness and Aviation”. And of course it’s not just the covers of this special edition of Holland Herald that are festive, but also the contents, which include a historical short story by leading Dutch author Ronald Giphart, about the first KLM flight to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia).

“We really wanted to make a big splash with Holland Herald in celebration of KLM’s centenary,” says KLM Media Manager Daphne Hoogenboom. “I think we’ve truly succeeded in terms of the superb content we’ve created. This is a wonderful gift for our passengers on board. The fact that we’ve hooked up with leading Dutch artists to create the three covers makes it all the more festive.”

Content Director Alexandra de Jong of Hearst Create said the following about the jumbo centenary edition of Holland Herald: “We really wanted to create something special for KLM’s 100^th anniversary. Because the festivities coincide with Dutch Design Week in October, it seemed like a good idea to commission a KLM cover design from three talented Dutch artists whose work will also be on show at Dutch Design Week. And of course we hope that all 2.9 million passengers who fly KLM every month will get a lot of enjoyment and travel inspiration from this special edition of Holland Herald.”