On Monday 7 October 2019, KLM, the world’s oldest airline turns 100.
The Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, more commonly known by its initials KLM, grew to become one of the largest airlines in Europe, as well as one of the most iconic brands in the aviation industry.
Although formally founded in October 7 1919, the new airline did not really take off until May 1920, when a four-seater De Havilland DH.16 made the inaugural flight to London’s now defunct Croydon Airport.
KLM’s first intercontinental flight took off on 1 October 1924. The final destination was Jakarta (then called ‘Batavia’), Java, in the Dutch East Indies; the flight used a Fokker F.VII with registration H-NACC and was piloted by Van der Hoop In September 1929, regular scheduled services between Amsterdam and Batavia commenced.
The first experimental transatlantic KLM flight was between Amsterdam and Curaçao in December 1934 using the Fokker F.XVIII “Snip”
At the start of World War II in 1940 the majority of KLM operations came to a standstill. It was a dark period which ended 1945 with the liberation of the Netherlands by allied troops.
In September 1945, after the end of World War II, KLM resumes their operations. Initially only on domestic routes but later the same year came the addition of a number of European destinations. On the 28th of November, the route to Indonesia was reopened.
On 1st November 1958 the KLM Douglas DC-7 “Caraibische Zee’ flew the first Amsterdam – Tokyo flight via the North Pole.
On 25 March 1960 the PH-DCA ‘Albert Plesman’ lands at Schiphol marking the start of the Jet engine era at KLM. The Douglas DC-8 aircraft has 4 jet engines making the flight time much shorter and reducing the number of stops required.
31 January 1970 the first KLM Boeing 747-206B lands at Schiphol. The PH-BUA ‘Mississippi’ starts KLMs ‘widebody’ era.
On 30 September 2003, Air France and KLM agreed to a merger plan in which Air France and KLM would become subsidiaries of a holding company called Air France–KLM. Both airlines would retain their own brands, and both Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol would become key hubs.
The last commercial flight of the Fokker 70 was on 29 October 2017. This is the last Fokker to leave the KLM fleet and the end of a very long history between Fokker and KLM.
KLM ordered its first Fokker aircraft in 1920, marking the start of their shared history of 97 years, in which two great companies inspired each other to take great steps.
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired |
---|---|---|---|
Airbus A310-200 | 11 | 1983 | 1997 |
Airbus A330-200 | 4 | 2007 | 2016 |
BAC 1-11-301AG | 1 | 1968 | 1968 |
Boeing 737-200 | 3 | 1988 | 1995 |
Boeing 737-300 | 19 | 1986 | 2011 |
Boeing 737-400 | 19 | 1989 | 2013 |
Boeing 737-700 | 2 | 2008 | 2019 |
Boeing 747-200B | 1 | 1971 | 1991 |
5 | |||
1 | 1971 | 1977 | |
Boeing 747-200M | 5 | 1975 | 1986 |
Boeing 747-200B/SUD | 5 | 1985 | 2003 |
Boeing 747-200/SUD/SF | 2 | 1998 | 2003 |
Boeing 747-200M/SUD | 3 | 1985 | 2003 |
2 | 1998 | ||
Boeing 747-300 | 1 | 1983 | 2003 |
Boeing 747-300M | 2 | 1983 | 2003 |
Boeing 747-400 | 2 | 1989 | 2021 |
Boeing 747-400M | 10 | 1989 | 2021 |
Boeing 767-300ER | 12 | 1995 | 2007 |
Convair 240 | Unknown | 1948 | 1959 |
Convair 340 | Unknown | 1953 | 1964 |
De Havilland DH.16 | Unknown | 1920 | 1924 |
Douglas C-54 Skymaster | 2 | 1945 | 1959 |
Douglas C-54A Skymaster | 16 | ||
Douglas C-54B Skymaster | 3 | ||
Douglas DC-2 | Unknown | 1934 | 1946 |
Douglas DC-3 | Unknown | 1936 | 1964 |
Douglas DC-4-1009 | 6 | 1946 | 1958 |
Douglas DC-5 | 4 | 1940 | 1941 |
Douglas DC-6 | Unknown | 1948 | 1963 |
Douglas DC-7 | Unknown | 1953 | 1966 |
Douglas DC-8 Family | 37 | 1960 | 1985 |
Douglas DC-9-10 | 6 | 1966 | 1989 |
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 | 12 | 1967 | 1989 |
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30C | 6 | ||
Fokker F.II | Unknown | 1920 | 1924 |
Fokker F.III | Unknown | 1921 | 1930 |
Fokker F.IX | Unknown | 1930 | 1936 |
Fokker F.VII | Unknown | 1925 | 1936 |
Fokker F.VIII | Unknown | 1927 | 1940 |
Fokker F.XII | Unknown | 1931 | 1936 |
Fokker F.XVIII | Unknown | 1932 | 1946 |
Fokker F.XX | Unknown | 1933 | 1936 |
Fokker F.XXII | Unknown | 1935 | 1939 |
Fokker F.XXXVI | Unknown | 1935 | 1939 |
Lockheed L-049 Constellation | 7 | 1946 | Unknown |
Lockheed L-749 Constellation | 13 | Unknown | |
Lockheed L-749A Constellation | 7 | Unknown | |
Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation | 13 | 1953 | 1966 |
Lockheed L-1049G Constellation | 6 | ||
Lockheed L-1049H Constellation | 3 | ||
Lockheed L-188C Electra | 12 | 1959 | 1969 |
Lockheed Super Electra-14 | 5 | 1938 | 1948 |
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | 12 | 1972 | 1995 |
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | 10 | 1993 | 2014 |
Vickers V.803 Viscount | 9 | 1957 | 1966 |
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KLM is the only airline to have operated all Douglas ‘DC’ models other than the DC-1.
KLM Cityhopper
Aircraft | Introduced | Retired |
---|---|---|
Fokker F27 | 1966 | 1991 |
Fokker F28-4000 | 1978 | 1996 |
Fokker 50 | 1991 | 2010 |
Fokker 70 | 1995 | 2017 |
Fokker 100 | 1991 | 2012 |
Saab 340B | 1991 | 1998 |
All photos Rob Vogelaar
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