KLM has a significant presence in the UK, serving 16 airports. Some of these are not connected by British Airways. This has long been a strategy for KLM, offering onward flights globally from Schiphol.
Serving the UK since 1920
KLM is one of the oldest airlines in the world, flying for 102 years as of late 2021. The airline was founded in 1919, with its first flight taking place in May 1920. This was with a DeHavilland DH-16 aircraft, flying between Croydon, London, and Amsterdam. The flight carried two journalists, newspapers, and a letter from the Mayor of London to his Amsterdam counterpart – a fitting start to a long history of connection.
These UK links were the most important in the airline’s early operations. It began a regular service between Amsterdam and Croydon, first with leased DH-16 aircraft and soon with its own Fokker F.II and F.III aircraft.
KLM soon expanded internationally as well. It added other European destinations between the wars, including Bremen, Copenhagen, and Malmö. Further afield, it served Jakarta using a Fokker F.VII.
After the Second World War, this picked up. In 1946, it began using the Douglas DC-4 to fly from Amsterdam to New York (as the first European airline to connect the continent). It soon added other long-haul destinations in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean.
Helping the hub strategy
KLM is, of course, successful today as a hub-based airline, connecting passengers to and from many destinations through its Schiphol base. Its early links to the UK were the first part of this, and these have grown in importance as longer routes were added.
This really took off from the 1970s. KLM opened its new, larger terminal facilities at Schiphol airport in 1967. And it introduced the Boeing 747-200 in 1971.
Taking over Air UK
To get more of an idea of KLM’s growing interest in the UK, take a look at its ownership and expansion history. In 1997 it took full ownership of UK Air, a regional UK airline that operated UK domestic and regional flights with a fleet of up to 36 aircraft. KLM had a stake in the airline since 1987, but after the complete takeover in 1997, it was rebranded as KLM UK.
The takeover brought many changes. KLM kept on many of the UK regional routes into Schiphol, eventually transferring them into KLM Cityhopper. Some other routes were dropped, and some transferred into the low-cost subsidiary, Buzz. This was sold to Ryanair in 2003.
KLM and the UK today
From both the expansion of KLM since 1920 and its more recent UK acquisitions, KLM today has a healthy UK presence. It serves 16 UK airports, although some of this service has been disrupted during the pandemic.
Airports served include Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Teesside, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Norwich, and Newcastle. Several of these airports are not served by British Airways, giving KLM a unique position to pick up connecting traffic and regular flyers.
As just one example, it has served Teeside International Airport for over 20 years. It maintained regular connections even after British Airways (formerly British Midland International) dropped it. KLM service was disrupted during the pandemic, but in October 2021, the airport confirmed full service would return, with two daily morning flights timed to allow good onward connections. BA has returned interestingly in 2021, as a codeshare with Loganir.
KLM CEO Pieter Elbers spoke about the historical and ongoing importance of the airline’s UK connections in a pre-pandemic interview with Business Traveller. He explained:
“It’s the bread and butter of what we do. If you want to fly from Cardiff to Sao Paolo or Osaka or Hangzhou, we are your best choice. That’s what we’re done for the last 20 years and that’s what we’ll do going forward.”
He added:
“We would never consider ourselves more British than the UK, that would be nonsense, of course. But I like to tease Willie Walsh (IAG’s CEO) with it every now and then.”
Do you regularly use KLM out of UK regional airports? How do you think this compares to British Airways? Feel free to discuss KLM’s UK presence and operations further in the comments.
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