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.

Flight schedule
Starting from October 27, KLM will fly three times a week on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday between Schiphol and Portland in winter. In summer 2025, KLM will fly five times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday between Schiphol and Portland. The flights are operated by the Boeing 787-9 and offer 30 seats in World Business Class, 21 seats in Premium Comfort Class, and 224 seats in Economy Class.

The winter flight schedule is as follows:

• KL615 departs from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (code: AMS) at 10:25 a.m. and arrives at 11:25 a.m. local time at Portland International Airport (code: PDX).
• KL616 departs from Portland International Airport at 1:25 p.m. local time and arrives the next day at 7:50 a.m. local time at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

The summer flight schedule (2025) is as follows:

• KL615 departs from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (code: AMS) at 10:40 a.m. and arrives at 11:30 a.m. local time at Portland International Airport (code: PDX).
• KL616 departs from Portland International Airport at 1:30 p.m. local time and arrives the next day at 7:55 a.m. local time at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. 

About Portland
Portland is the largest city of the state Oregon. It’s a year-round destination with a strong tourism sector, with many places of natural beauty such as Mt. Hood, Columbia River Gorge and Forest Park, as well as Portland’s award-winning culinary scene. It is also an important business destination, with the presence of leading companies in the sportswear, chip, automotive and healthcare industries.

KLM offers excellent hygiene, flexible booking and high customer ratings

KLM flies passengers to their destinations in a fully responsible manner. KLM pursues the highest standard of hygiene before, during and after every flight, earning Diamond Status from the APEX research agency. This makes KLM one of the world’s trendsetting airlines in terms of hygiene and health safety. KLM also offers its customers maximum flexibility when booking, altering or cancelling a trip. In this regard, APEX also awarded KLM five stars, based on passengers’ evaluations of our product and services.

United States network

KLM’s winter schedule for its US network is as follows:

All times are local. Schedules are subject to change. Check KLM.com for up to date flight information.

KLM previously announced that it would expand its winter schedule with services to four new destinations: Cancun (Mexico), Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago), Bridgetown (Barbados) and Mombasa (Kenya).

Network strategy
Restoring a global network of destinations is the focal point of KLM’s strategy to emerge from the coronavirus crisis as a stronger and more competitive airline. From the start of the coronavirus pandemic, KLM has maintained as much of its network as possible. This ensured that passengers could continue to make (essential) trips and that cargo, including medical goods and vaccines, could be transported. This strategy was of great benefit to KLM during the pandemic and now makes it easier to scale up operations. KLM will continue to insist on greater consistency in policy on travel restrictions.

Flight schedules
KLM’s flight schedules to Miami and Las Vegas from 6 December 2021 will be as follows:

Miami

*arrival the next day

Las Vegas

*arrival the next day

KLM offers excellent hygiene, flexible booking, high customer ratings
KLM flies passengers to their destination with all due care and caution. KLM has adopted the very highest hygiene standards, before, during and after the flight, earning Diamond Status from the APEX research institute. This makes KLM an industry trend-setter in terms of hygiene and health safety. Moreover, KLM offers customers maximum flexibility when it comes to booking, rebooking or cancelling their trip. KLM also earned the maximum five-star score from APEX, based on passenger scores for our service and product.

From 31 March 2019, KLM will begin operating flights between Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Boston on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Airbus A330-300 flights will have 30 seats in World Business Class, 40 seats in Economy Comfort Class and 222 seats in Economy Class. From 1 July 2019, a fourth weekly flight will be operated on Mondays. The departure and arrival times are as follows:

• KL0617 departs from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 17.00 CET, arriving in Boston at 18.30 local time.

• KL0618 departs from Boston at 22.00 local time, arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the following day at 10.35 CET.

More about Boston
Boston lies 300 kilometres north of New York and is the largest city in the state of Massachusetts. Renowned as the home of Harvard University, Boston is one of the oldest and richest cities in the United States with an economy that revolves around financial services, insurance, education, and high-tech manufacturing and research. The city’s Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1876 and now boasts no fewer than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the world’s most comprehensive museums.

The new KLM flights to Salt Lake City will supplement the existing daily flight between Salt Lake City and Amsterdam operated by Air France KLM’s Transatlantic Joint Venture partner Delta Air Lines. Salt Lake City is one of Delta’s five hubs. Thanks to its code-sharing partnership with Delta, KLM is able to offer its passengers seamless connections to more than 50 North American destinations via Salt Lake City.

About Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Utah. The city was founded in 1847 by Mormons and its metropolitan area currently has a total population of 1.2 million. Salt Lake City has developed a strong tourist industry oriented towards outdoor recreation and, more specifically, skiing. Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and is the gateway to numerous impressive national parks. Salt Lake City is also the industrial banking capital of the United States.

Flight schedules Amsterdam – Salt Lake City (local times)
From 5 May through 18 June and from 8 September through 29 October, the flights will depart from Amsterdam at 10.20 CET, arriving in Salt Lake City at 12.40 local time. The return flights will depart from Salt Lake City at 14.50 local time, arriving in Amsterdam at 08.20 CET the following morning.

From 23 June through 5 September, the flights will depart from Amsterdam at 12.30 CET, arriving in Salt Lake City at 14.50 local time. The return flights will depart from Salt Lake City at 16.50 local time, arriving in Amsterdam at 10.20 CET the following morning.

Ibiza at the height of the holiday season
Ibiza service will begin on 4 July 2016 and will continue until 25 August 2016. Flights will be operated on weekdays only. Ibiza will be available for booking from Wednesday, 16 December.

Flight schedule to Ibiza (all in local time)

• Departing Amsterdam 14.05 – Arriving in Ibiza 16.40;
• Departing Ibiza 17.30 – Arriving in Amsterdam 20.10;
• Aircraft type: Boeing 737-700.

The peakseason KLM operation to Ibiza is in addition to the existing Transavia Summer operations from Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam.

The Amsterdam-Dallas/Fort Worth service will be operated five times a week, using an Airbus A330-200. Flight KL669 departs from Amsterdam at 10.30 hrs CET and arrives in Dallas/Fort Worth at 13.50 hrs LT. The return flight, KL670, leaves Dallas/Fort Worth 15.45 hrs LT and arrives in Amsterdam at 08.00 CET the next day.

KLM first began operating scheduled service to Dallas/Fort Worth in March 2008. During the past winter, KLM and its Transatlantic Joint Venture partner Delta Air Lines decided that this route would only be served in summer. The key reasons being fluctuating seasonal demand and industry-wide overcapacity in the transatlantic market.

The flights can be booked via www.klm.com. Flying Blue members who book travel to Dallas/Fort Worth in May and June will earn double FB miles.

With more than 260 transatlantic flights a day, operated by a fleet of 144 aircraft, the Transatlantic Joint Venture (JV) between AIR FRANCE KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines offers customers the benefit of a sprawling network. With more flights, attractive rates and seamless services for transatlantic travel. The JV network is structured around seven main hubs: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York-JFK, Paris-CDG and Rome Fiumicino.