‘À la carte catering’ pilot

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will launch a pilot project offering à la carte catering on board. Passengers travelling in Economy Class will be able to choose from four dishes on flights from Amsterdam to Bangkok and Taipei, Dubai, Cape Town, Singapore and Denpasar. Orders can be placed when checking in online. The pilot will run until the end of August this year,according to a press release from the airline.

Customers will be able to choose from meals including a healthy Japanese meal; an Indonesian rice table; a Bella Italia meal, Italian dishes, and a Sustainable dining meal of sustainable, organic chicken, vegetables and cheese. The meals can be ordered and paid for when checking in online between 30 and 24 hours prior to departure. They will cost €15 per dish.

“The wishes and choices of our customers are key. We will be testing them during the pilot project. Our aim is to align our products even more closely to what different customers want,” said Erik Varwijk, Executive Vice President of KLM Commercial.

KLM Resumes Intercontinentals

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines expects to resume operating all its intercontinental (ICA) flights to and from Schiphol today. Every effort will be made to restore the schedule, operating according to the original flight times as far as possible, according to a KLM press release.

Several restrictions still apply to the flight schedule for Europe. A number of airports are still closed and flights are restricted to daytime hours at others. KLM expects to achieve a great deal today in restoring normal air traffic and operating around 70 percent of its scheduled flights within Europe. From 14:00 hours (CEST), KLM will nonetheless operate a number of its previously cancelled flights to the United Kingdom. The same applies to flights to several Scandinavian destinations as well. Only 75 passengers of the original group of KLM passengers stranded at Schiphol since Thursday, 15 April now remain.

KLM will be making every effort to resume scheduled flight operations as soon as possible, transporting passengers and cargo to their destinations worldwide. Capacity will be increased wherever possible. For example, an extra flight will be operated today to Curaçao and Bonaire, which will be expected to return to Amsterdam tomorrow.

For the exact flight times and information on specific destinations, please refer to the KLM website at www.klm.com. Given the exceptional circumstances, a special page has been created with arrival and departure times. KLM advises passengers to consult the website for information about departing flights before travelling to Schiphol.

KLM ready for take-off

Sunday evening, KLM operated two commercial flights: One to Bangkok and Taipei and another to the Arab emirate of Sharjah, the airline reports in a press release.

During the flight, and during the technical inspection that followed, nothing out of the ordinary was found in either aircraft. Both aircraft underwent inspection immediately after landing.

The inspection data has been passed along to the Inspectorate for the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works. KLM CEO Peter Hartman hopes that the airline will receive rapid clearance to restart at least part of its operations and transport its passengers to their destinations.

The first two flights carried no passengers, but transported cargo and flight crews. Dutch authorities have permitted KLM to fly only on these routes.

Passengers are advised not to go to Schiphol Airport, but to check the website for the airline with which they are flying for the latest information.

KLM Economy Comfort Zone

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines festively launched its new Economy Comfort zone this week, with a spectacular “gliding act” performed by the magician Ramana at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Ramana’s act ties in with KLM’s new advertising campaign “Choose Your Personal Kind of Comfort”, which features passengers sitting on invisible seats, seemingly floating on air. The new Economy Comfort zone offers passengers a greater range of seating comfort in Economy Class, according to a press release issued by the airline.

A seat in the new Economy Comfort zone offers passengers up to 10 cm more legroom and allows them to recline twice as far as a standard seat. Economy Comfort passengers will also be able to disembark first, because the zone is in the front section of the Economy Class cabin. The service and meals in Economy Comfort are the same as those in Economy Class. Every day, KLM will have more than 1,500 Economy Comfort seats available.

With Economy Comfort, KLM extends its range of seating comfort options for passengers travelling Economy Class. Passengers could already opt for seats with extra legroom and for a seat in a row of two. This new alternative reflects KLM’s pledge to fulfil the changing needs of its customers, one of which was the call for more comfort options in Economy Class.

The nominal fee for an Economy Comfort seat will range from EUR 80 to EUR 150 for a one-way trip, depending on the distance covered. Flying Blue Platinum members and passengers flying on a fully flexible Economy Class ticket can reserve Economy Comfort seats free of charge. Flying Blue Gold members will get a 50 percent discount and Flying Blue Silver members will get a 25 percent discount.

Once passengers have booked a ticket, they can reserve an Economy Comfort seat via the “Manage My Booking” tab on the KLM website from 90 days before departure. Bookings can also be made via telephone reservation or at the ticket offices (except Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) or when passengers check-in on the KLM website. Economy Comfort seats can also be booked at the airport, via the self-service kiosks or at local customer service desks (that too except Amsterdam Airport Schiphol).

Photo: KLM Economy Comfort Zone in a Boeing 777.

Dutch sustainable air transport

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operated its first ever passenger flight powered by sustainable biokerosene this Monday. To give an extra impulse to sustainable air transport, the airline company also joined hands with North Sea Petroleum and Spring Associates to establish the SkyEnergy consortium.

“KLM leads the sustainability drive in global aviation. The Netherlands should make good use of this leading position to ensure clean, silent and sustainable air transport worldwide,” said KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman, according to a company-issued press release. “This is technically feasible. We have demonstrated that it is possible. Government, industry and society at large must now join forces to ensure that we quickly gain access to a continuous supply of biofuel.

KLM founded SkyEnergy together with North Sea Petroleum and Spring Associates. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) will advise the consortium in relation to ecological aspects.

The development of biokerosene is a quest that KLM is pursuing in accordance with strict financial, technological and ecological criteria.

“The food chain may not be jeopardised, and production of biokerosene should not go hand in hand with deforestation or excessive water consumption,” said Mr Hartman, adding: “The conservation of biodiversity is, of course, also a precondition. Our cooperation with WWF is both important and inspirational.”

Johan van de Gronden, director of WWF The Netherlands: “The establishment of SkyEnergy is a groundbreaking initiative. KLM’s demonstration flight serves as a concrete step towards achieving a more sustainable future. We still have a long way to go in relation to biofuels for aviation, but by investing in this manner KLM is once again taking the lead.”

“KLM has been involved in biokerosene research since 2007. With the establishment of SkyEnergy, we are accelerating development and hope to achieve a market breakthrough. Within the consortium, we have clustered expertise and experience in legislation, ecology and technology, as well as the ability to develop biokerosene in an economically viable manner. We are moving forward with great resolve, but cannot do it alone. We need the efforts and support of government, industry and broader society.”

KLM and Air France are jointly pursuing an ambitious Climate Action Plan. The fruits of this endeavour are exemplified by the fact that Air France KLM has been the sector leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for five consecutive years.

French-Dutch traffic decline

According to a press release from Air France/KLM the October passenger load factor went up, with 1.3 points, to 82.5 percent, with capacity reduction (-5.6 percent) exceeding decline in traffic (-4.1 percent). The companies also saw a slight improvement in cardo, with a 67.7 percent load factor.

In other words, traffic once again declined less than capacity, leading to a 1.3 point improvement in load factor, to 82.5 percent. All networks, apart form Africa and the Middle East, saw higher load factors. The group carried 6.3 million passengers.

Although unit revenues remained under pressure, they recorded a lesser decline.

Photo: An Air France A320 landing at Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Photographer: Philippe Delafosse