Klm Historia

In 1919, a young aviator lieutenant named Albert Plesman sponsored the ELTA aviation exhibition in Amsterdam. This aviation exhibition was a great success and after closure, several Dutch commercial interests had the intention to establish a Dutch airline. Plesman was nominated to head this new airline.[4] In September 1919, Queen Wilhelmina awarded the yet to be founded KLM its "Royal" ("Koninklijke") predicate.[5] On October 7, 1919, the "Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij" (KLM) [5]was founded by Albert Plesman in The Hague as one of the world's first commercial airline companies.[4]

The first KLM flight took place on 17 May 1920. KLM's first pilot, Jerry Shaw, flew from Croydon Airport, London toAmsterdam.[5] The flight was flown using a leased Aircraft Transport and Travel De Haviland DH-16,[5] registration G-EALU, and was carrying two British journalists and a number of newspapers. In 1920, KLM carried 440 passengers and 22 tons of freight. In April 1921, after a winter hiatus, KLM resumed its services using its own pilots and aircraft: Fokker F.II and Fokker F.III.[5] In 1921, KLM started scheduled services.

KLM Fokker F-XII departing from the Dutch East Indies, 1932.

KLM's first intercontinental flight was initiated on the 1st of October 1924.[5] This flight had Batavia (Colonial Jakarta) on the island Java in the Dutch East Indies as the final destination and was flown by a Fokker F.VII[5] with registration H-NACC and was piloted by Van Der Hoop. In September 1929, regular scheduled services between Amsterdam and Batavia commenced. Until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, this was the world's longest-distance scheduled service by airplane.[5]

By 1926, it was offering flights to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Paris, London, Bremen, Copenhagen, and Malmö, using primarily Fokker F2 & Fokker F.III.[6]

KLM's Douglas DC-2 aircraft Uiver after placing second in the MacRobertson Air Race from RAF Mildenhall, England, to Melbourne in 1934

In 1930, KLM carried 15,143 passengers. The Douglas DC-2 was introduced on the Batavia service in 1934.

The first transatlantic KLM flight was between Amsterdam and Curaçao in December 1934 using the Fokker F-XVIII "Snip".[5] The first of the airline's Douglas DC-3 aircraft were delivered in 1936, and these replaced the DC-2s on the service via Batavia to Sydney. KLM was the first airline to serveManchester's new Ringway airport from June 1938. KLM was the only civilian airline to operate the Douglas DC-5, using four examples in the Dutch East and West Indies between May 1940 and late 1941.

1940s[edit]

Revenue Passenger-Kilometers, scheduled flights only, in millions

Year Traffic

1947 454

1950 766

1955 1,485

1960 2,660

1965 3,342

1971 6,330

1975 10,077

1980 14,058

1985 18,039

1995 44,458

Source:ICAO Digest of Statistics for 1947–55, IATA World Air Transport Statistics 1960–1995

Second World War[edit]

KLM Douglas DC-3 at Manchester Airport in 1947

When German military forces invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, a number of KLM aircraft (mostly DC-3s and a few DC-2s) were en route to or from the Far East or operating services in Europe. Five DC-3s and one DC-2 managed to escape to England. During the entire war, these KLM planes and crew members would fly the infamous Bristol-Lisbon scheduled passenger flights under BOAC registration.

The Douglas DC-3 PH-ALI 'Ibis', then registered as G-AGBB, was attacked three times by the Luftwaffe: on 15 November 1942, 19 April 1943, and finally on 1 June 1943 (fatal to passengers and crew, see BOAC Flight 777). Some KLM aircraft with their crews ended up in the Australia-Indonesia region, where

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