Today Monday 7 October , 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 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.

KLM historical fleet

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[125]	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

 

 

 

KLM is the only airline to have operated all Douglas ‘DC’ models other than the DC-1.

Todays Fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders
			Airbus A330-200	8	–
Airbus A330-300	5	—
Boeing 737-700	16	—
Boeing 737-800	30	1
Boeing 737-900	5	—
Boeing 747-400	5	—
Boeing 747-400M	5	—
Boeing 777-200ER	15	—
Boeing 777-300ER	14	—
Boeing 787-9	13	6
Boeing 787-10	1	14
KLM Cargo fleet
Boeing 747-400ERF	4	—
Total	120	21

KLM Cityhopper

KLM Cityhopper historical fleet

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

KLM Cityhopper Fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders
			Embraer 175	17	—
Embraer 190	32	—
Embraer 195	1	—
Embraer E195-E2	—	35
Total	50	35

Future???

The aircraft’s v-shaped design will integrate the passenger cabin, the cargo hold and the fuel tanks in the wings. Its improved aerodynamic shape and reduced weight will mean it uses 20% less fuel than the Airbus A350, today’s most advanced aircraft. A flying scale model and a full-size section of the interior of the Flying-V will be officially presented at the KLM Experience Days at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in October on the occasion of KLM’s 100th anniversary.

All photos Rob Vogelaar