KLM celebrated it’s 90th anniversary

News added by James Smith under Airline News

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded on 7 October 1919 for the Netherlands and its colonies. KLM is the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name. The events on 7 October mark the end of the 90 Years of KLM celebrations. Air France, which KLM merged with five years ago, is celebrating its 76th anniversary this year.

KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman spoke about the future at a symposium at the National Aerospace Laboratory this morning. The main changes he foresees in the short term involve the development and application of sustainable fuels.

- We are working hard in this area and hope to be able to redouble our efforts as soon as the economic crisis allows.” Mr. Hartman doesn’t foresee great changes to aircraft over the next 20 years.After that,” he says: - We will see a whole new generation of aircraft and will perhaps bid farewell to the familiar winged tube with engines. What the new model will look like exactly, I have no idea, but the change will happen.”

The symposium, which was also attended by Minister Camiel Eurlings of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, was part of a day full of activities around KLM’s anniversary.In the morning, Peter Hartman received a life-size singing birthday card from Schiphol CEO Jos Nijhuis with a real live band inside. In The Hague, the oldest and youngest member of the KLM lay flowers on the monument to Albert Plesman, KLM’s first director.

Lunch is held for 90 guests in the Dutch Dakota Hangar. Festivities continue this afternoon in the presence of Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven, a member of the Dutch Royal Family, at Museum Jan van der Togt in Amstelveen.

KLM’s 90th anniversary celebrations have been modest. The anniversary year was launched on 1 January with a Celebration Flight. The passengers included 90 sick children from the High-Flyer Foundation (Stichting Hoogvliegers). Another memorable event was the official naming of the KLM tulip by CEO Peter Hartman and former top model Frederique van der Wal. In July, 90 senior citizens who had never before flown in an aeroplane were treated to a flight by KLM.

This autumn, a special KLM lorry is travelling to 30 cities throughout Europe. This ‘Tour of Inspiration’ will present all KLM’s products and services. The lorry started its journey on 18 September in Billund, Denmark, and will end it on 7 November in Munich, Germany.

KLM has also been supporting a good cause throughout this anniversary year, namely, Cycling Blue for Kenya. This is a joint project with the charity Cycling Out of Poverty. Over the next three months Cycling Blue for Kenya is a KLM AirCares project. The aim is to train people in Kenya as cycle repairers, to set up cycle repair shops there and to finance bicycles for Kenyan children who live more than ten kilometres from their schools.

Last weekend KLM held an Open House for KLM staff and their friends and family. Almost 40,000 people took the opportunity to visit parts of KLM they don’t normally come into contact with during their work.

Bookmark this article: