KLM EUROPEAN LAUNCH AIRLINE FOR BOEING 737-900 MIAMI ADDED TO ROUTE NETWORK IN SUMMER 2001 SCHEDULE

KLM will be the first European airline to introduce the Boeing 737-900 during the coming summer schedule, starting March 25. KLM will take delivery of four of these aircraft, the longest in the Next Generation Boeing 737 range, between July and October 2001. In its 178-seat KLM configuration, the 737-900 will mainly serve important European destinations such as Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Athens. The introduction of the Boeing 737-900 is a new step in KLM’s fleet renewal policy, aimed at product enhancement and reduction of environmental impact.

KLM will add Miami, Florida, to its route network this summer and will raise frequencies and/or capacity on many routes, utilizing capacity released by curtailing or withdrawing service on less profitable routes.

This summer, KLM will continue to pursue its policy of selective growth and efforts to optimize yield from flight operations. Compared to last year’s summer schedule, KLM has raised capacity (available seat kilometers) by around 2 percent. KLM will continue to work in close cooperation with partner airlines to provide a global route network with regular frequencies and convenient connections.



North America

The most important change in the trans-Atlantic route network is of course the addition of Miami, a new destination further intensifying the alliance between KLM and Northwest Airlines. Daily round-trip service between Amsterdam and Miami will commence on April 1, operated with Northwest DC-10 equipment. Flight KL6057/NW057 will leave Amsterdam daily at 14:35, arriving in Miami at 18:25 the same day. The return flight, KL6058/NW058, will depart Miami International Airport at 21:10, arriving at Schiphol the following day at 12:05.

KLM and Northwest will maintain their five daily round-trip flights between their Amsterdam and Detroit hubs, and their two daily round-trip flights between Amsterdam and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The daily hub-to-hub connection between Amsterdam and Memphis will also be maintained.

This summer, flight frequency to Los Angeles will be raised from nine to eleven a week this summer. In addition, KLM and Northwest will each operate one of the two daily codeshare flights between Amsterdam and New York JFK. On flights to Montreal, KLM will replace MD-11 with Boeing 747-300 equipment. Owing to scheduled KLM fleet maintenance, Martinair will temporarily take over KLM’s daily round-trip flight to Vancouver, replacing MD-11 with Boeing 767 equipment.


Europe

KLM will reshuffle many of its European frequencies and aircraft configurations this summer. The main changes are outlined here. KLM cityhopper will take over the Amsterdam-Bremen route from German regional airline Eurowings, operating four daily round-trips with Fokker 50 equipment.

This summer, KLM will maintain its recently launched codeshare partnership with Malev, operating four daily round-trip flights between Amsterdam and Budapest, Hungary. KLM will raise the number of round-trips to Kiev, Ukraine, from five to six times weekly. This summer, KLM will offer a total of eleven weekly round-trips to Kiev in codeshare with Ukraine International Airlines. KLM will maintain separate services to the Portuguese cities of Oporto and Lisbon. Since January, KLM has operated twice daily round-trip service to Lisbon, with KLM partner Transavia Airlines operating daily round-trip service to Oporto. Transavia will also begin operating a daily service to Thessaloniki, Greece.

KLM will continue to serve the Norwegian market in partnership with Braathens, offering fourteen daily round-trip services: five to Oslo, three to Sandefjord, three to Stavanger, and three to Bergen. KLM offers 70 different codeshare connections to and from Norwegian destinations served by Braathens.



Asia Pacific

KLM will substantially increase capacity to the brand-new Asian hub Kuala Lumpur this summer, offering six weekly Boeing 747-400 Combi flights. In addition, KLM will offer capacity on the seven weekly codeshare flights operated by its partner Malaysia Airlines. KLM will also offer codeshare capacity on Malaysia Airlines’ daily services between Kuala Lumpur and seven cities in Australia and New Zealand. This means that, despite the suspension of its direct services to Sydney, KLM has substantially expanded the number of connections to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Cairns and Auckland, offering passengers 55 weekly flights to these cities.

KLM will raise frequency between Amsterdam and Bangkok from seven to eleven round-trips a week. Frequency to Nagoya/Sapporo will be doubled from two to four weekly flights, operated with MD-11 equipment.

KLM has reached agreement on the expansion of codesharing with Japan Airlines System (JAS). As of April 1, KLM will offer more than twenty codeshare connections to Japanese destinations served by JAS (subject to government approval).



Africa

Frequency to Accra, Ghana, will be raised from five to seven flights a week. Capacity on the six weekly round-trips to Lagos, Nigeria, will be increased substantially by replacing Boeing 767 with MD-11 equipment.

KLM will expand service to Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to a daily round-trip flight from May 28.

On January 14, KLM withdrew service between Amsterdam and Lomé, Togo, and reduced its Abidjan, Ivory Coast, service to two flights weekly. KLM and Kenya Airways will maintain their twice-daily codeshare service between their Amsterdam and Nairobi hubs.



Middle East

KLM launched a second daily service to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on January 14. This “double daily” will be maintained during the summer. KLM will raise frequency to Teheran, Iran, from three to five weekly flights on May 28, and will also introduce a fourth weekly flight to Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan.

This summer, KLM will raise frequencies to Beirut and Damascus/Amman to seven and six flights a week respectively. Frequency to Muscat and Doha, on the Persian Gulf, will respectively be reduced from six to four and from four to two flights a week.



South and Central America

KLM will begin operating daily round-trip service to São Paulo, Brazil (currently five times weekly) with Boeing 747-400 Combi equipment. Service to Buenos Aires will be suspended. During the summer season, service on the Antilles route will be expanded with a sixth weekly flight to Aruba-Curaçao.



Product renewal

KLM expects to complete the renewal of its World Business Class product on its intercontinental Boeing 747 and MD-11 fleet before June 1, 2001, introducing 60-inch seat pitch (152.4 cm) and a range of other enhancements. Installation of the new Economy Class seat aboard KLM’s intercontinental fleet will continue through the summer.

This summer, KLM will also be working on the improvement of its products and services at Schiphol as well as outstations.



Cargo

KLM Cargo will offer capacity on 94 Combi frequencies this summer. KLM will operate daily Boeing 747 Combi service to Hong Kong, Mexico City and São Paulo this summer. Lowerdeck capacity will be available on daily flights to Lima, Quito/Guayaquil and Miami. Lowerdeck capacity to Sapporo/Nagoya has doubled, because frequency was raised from two to four flights a week. The improved deployment of Boeing 747 freighters during the winter schedule will be continued this summer, with three weekly flights to Osaka and Dubai-Singapore-Penang, and once weekly service to Tel Aviv. KLM Cargo’s leased Airbus A300 freighter will continue to serve Oporto, Dublin, Manchester and Helsinki