In the presence of hundreds of guests, the minister thanked Pieter for his tireless efforts and wished his successor Marjan Rintel all the very best.

Pieter Elbers joined KLM 30 years ago. He was appointed CEO in 2014. Marjan Rintel will take over the reins from him on 1 July 2022. As of that same date, KLM’s statutory Board of Managing Directors will – in addition to Marjan Rintel – consist of Erik Swelheim (Chief Financial Officer) and René de Groot (Chief Operating Officer). Elbers will start as CEO of the Indian airline IndiGo on 1 October.

The Air France-KLM Board of Directors has approved the nomination.

Cees 't Hart, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, on the unanimous nomination: ‘We are delighted that Marjan will come on board as CEO on the 1^st of July. With her broad managerial, commercial and operational experience, we are bringing in someone who is close to the staff and who, together with her team, will continue to shape the future of KLM as a customer-focused, sustainable and financially healthy company. We are convinced that her knowledge of the sector, her network and her experience in the political arena will contribute to this.’

Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM: ‘I am extremely happy to welcome Marjan to our team as the new CEO of KLM. I know that Marjan will succeed in making KLM even stronger by continuing to build on the Group’s strengths.’

Marjan Rintel: ‘I am honoured to return to KLM and take over the baton from Pieter. His 30-year track record is impressive. Under Pieter's leadership, KLM found its way up and I will continue on that course. Aviation is in times of great and complex challenges. I am of the opinion that an indigenous Dutch company like KLM, just like NS, has a major role to play in these social and economic challenges. Fulfilling that role successfully will be my priority from day one.’

The Works Council of KLM has been asked for its advice on the intended nomination of Marjan Rintel as Statutory Director of KLM. The nomination for the appointment will be submitted to shareholders for approval at an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for this purpose. 

In the last 2 years, during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, Harm Kreulen and his team have worked hard under difficult circumstances and restructured KLM Benelux to be ready for a structural recovery with new challenges towards the future. These challenges will be taken up by Bas Gerressen, who will succeed Harm Kreulen as of 1 October.

Bas Gerressen, currently SVP North America, will return to the Netherlands this summer. He has been with KLM since 1999 and has gained extensive commercial experience in previous positions including Sales Manager Business Market Netherlands, Commercial Director Gulf Region, Head of Commercial Planning and General Manager China. Of his 22 years of service, Bas Gerressen spent 11 years working abroad, where he worked closely with several key partners including Delta Air Lines.

Pieter Elbers served before on the IATA Board of Governors from 2016 until June 2019.

He will use his extensive experience in the airline industry, of which the last 6 years as KLM’s CEO, in supporting IATA to work together with airlines and other stakeholders on building back a better aviation industry after the COVID-19 crisis.

(*) The joint Air France KLM traffic results are available in the download box of this message.

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.”

About KLM's Delftware miniatures

KLM has presented its Delftware miniatures on board to passengers travelling in World Business Class on intercontinental flights since the 1950s. The houses are replicas of exceptional buildings in the Netherlands. The number of houses in the collection has corresponded with KLM’s age since 1994. A new house has been added to the collection on or around 7 October each year thereafter. Next year on 7 October 2019, KLM will celebrate – as the first airline in the world to operate under its original name - its 100th anniversary.

KLM President & CEAO Pieter Elbers: “I congratualate Ben Smith on his appointment and wish him the best of success. It is beneficial for the group that, following Jean-Marc Janaillac's departure in May, we now have clarity on the new AFKL CEO. It is with great confidence that I look forward to working together and jointly tackling the challenges that face AFKL Group in future."

KLM Cargo showed positive results in July. Traffic increased by 2.7% against a drop in capacity of 1.4%. The result was an increase in cargo load factor of 2.5%^pts to 65%. Transavia welcomed fewer passengers in July than in the same month the previous year. With decreased traffic and capacity, load factor decreased slightly as a result of the earlier suspension of activities in Munich.

(*) The joint Air France KLM traffic results are available in the download box of this message.

Strategic cooperation with GOL
Fortaleza was chosen as KLM’s third destination partly due to the cooperative relationship already in place with Brazilian carrier GOL. GOL’s strategic location, economic and tourist development, and new air links to major cities in northern and north-eastern Brazil make Fortaleza an attractive destination for KLM. KLM’s partner Air France will also be operating flights from Paris to Fortaleza as of today.

Three weekly flights using Airbus A330-200 equipment featuring the new World Business Class
The flights on Thursdays and Saturdays will be operated using Airbus A330-200 equipment with 18 seats in Business Class, 35 seats in Economy Comfort and 215 seats in Economy Class. A third weekly flight will be added on Mondays as of 2 July 2018.

• Flight KL 707 will depart from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 12:50 hours and arrive at 17:20 hours in Fortaleza.
• Flight KL 708 will depart from Fortaleza at 19:50 hours and arrive back in Amsterdam at 10:00 hours the following day.

KLM is currently equipping all its Airbus aircraft with a new interior in World Business Class, and the Economy Class is being renewed in a number of Airbus A330-200 aircraft. By November 2018, KLM’s World Business Class will boast only full-flat seats to its intercontinental destinations.

KLM currently serves two other Brazilian destinations: seven times a week to both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

You can read more about the Fortaleza destination in the March edition of KLM’s iFly Magazine. You can download the below factsheet about Fortaleza in the download box on the upper left side of this page. 

* From May to the start of July 2018 twice a week and from 2 July onwards, adding a third weekly flight.

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.

Important topics include the financial situation, standardisation, the innovation of sales channels and climate change.

Earlier this year, communication took place about the recommended appointment of Alexandre de Juniac as Director General & CEO of IATA. During the same IATA meeting, confirmation was also given of the appointment of Alexandre de Juniac to the post of Director General & CEO of IATA.

Erik Varwijk’s resignation has created a vacancy on the Board of Managing Directors. The Supervisory Board has decided to nominate René de Groot, Chief Operating Officer since January 2015, as Director for a first four-year term. KLM has asked the Works Council to make a recommendation concerning the nomination.

Following the approval of the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting, the Managing Directors under the Articles of Association will consist of Mr Elbers, Mr de Groot and Chief Financial Officer Erik Swelheim. The Supervisory Board believes that these nominations will bring the management back into balance to keep KLM on course.

BIOGRAPHY – Pieter Elbers
Pieter Elbers (44), President and CEO of KLM, started his career at KLM in 1992 and held until today the position of Chief Operating Officer and deputy CEO of KLM. He is a member of KLM’s statutory Board of Managing Directors since April 2012.

His previous positions at KLM include SVP Network & Alliances, General Manager KLM Japan & Korea and General Manager KLM Mediterranean.

He is a member of the Supervisory Boards of Kenya Airways and Transavia Airlines B.V. (Transavia Netherlands).

He is a member of the Advisory Board of The National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands (NLR), the International Advisory Board of International Institute of Air & Space Law (IIASL), College Dutch Aerospace/“Lucht- en Ruimtevaart Nederland” (LRN).