This video is sponsored by AtlasVPN
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the flag carrier of the Netherlands and is one of the carriers
claiming to be the world’s oldest carrier. Its main rival for this title is British Airways.
Formed in October 1919, KLM is the oldest airline in the world still operating under
its original name, operating its first flight in 1920. On the other hand, British Airways’
claim stems from the fact that its predecessor Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T),
launched its first international scheduled air service in August 1919.
Whatever the case may be, KLM has grown dramatically in its 100-plus years of service,
now operating a fleet of over 100 aircraft. The airline is also half of the Air France-KLM Group-
a partnership that strives to maintain and gain European market share against Lufthansa Group,
IAG, and various budget carriers. Today we take a closer look at the mainline KLM fleet-
excluding its CityHopper subsidiary. So, let’s get started…
Starting with the airline’s smallest aircraft, KLM operates a fleet of 46 Boeing 737s with an overall
average age of 15 years. These are the only narrowbody aircraft in the KLM mainline fleet.
KLM’s lower-demand, short-haul flights are operated by its CityHopper subsidiary,
which has a fleet of Embraer regional aircraft- which include the brand new E195-E2.
KLM’s hub is located at Amsterdam Schiphol in the Netherlands.
Thankfully this facility has free and fairly fast internet access.
But, when it comes to public, unsecured networks like these, it’s best to use a VPN.
That’s where today’s sponsor, Atlas VPN can help you out! As soon as you connect to an Atlas VPN
server, all traffic from that point onwards will be encrypted using highly advanced protocols.
Using 750 servers in about 40 locations worldwide,
this will prevent external entities from snooping on your activities.
And once you’re at your destination you can change your location to access geo-restricted content
on streaming platforms Netflix, HBO, and Hulu, allowing you to binge watch whatever you want!
‘Right now, Atlas VPN is running a HUGE discount. It means you can get a 3-year
subscription for just $1.99 a month with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Even better, this subscription is good for an unlimited number of devices!
Time is running out, so get your deal by heading over get.atlasvpn.com/SimpleFlying
or by clicking the link in the video description below!’
But, going back to KLM and its Boeing 737s, the breakdown in variants is as follows:
The airline has 10 737-700s with an average age of 12 years,
31 -800s averaging almost 15 and a half years of age,
And just five -900s averaging 20 years of age.
You’ll find KLM’s 737s flying mainly within Europe- whether its short hops like Amsterdam
to Paris, or slightly longer journeys such as Amsterdam to Bucharest. The 737s
also fly a few longer-range routes such as to Istanbul and Tel Aviv.
In April of 2021, the carrier announced that it would be completely renewing
the cabins of 14 Boeing 737-800s, for both Business Class and Economy Class.
The airline claimed that the renewal would offer passengers more comfort and style,
but also consume less fuel due to a 700kg weight savings per aircraft. The first refurbished
aircraft has already gone into service. Carried out by KLM's Engineering and Maintenance division,
this cabin transformation was completed in March 2022.
Moving up in size, the airline has just 11 Airbus A330s averaging 13
years of age. This breaks down to six of the shorter -200s, which average 16 years,
and five of the longer -300s, which average nine and a half years.
These aircraft fly a diverse range of long-haul destinations, including select services to North
America and the Middle East, as well as several cities in East and West Africa.
KLM also deploys the A330-300 on its triangle service from Amsterdam to the
Caribbean island of Sint Maarten and the Port of Spain on the island of Trinidad.
With long-haul service as competitive as it is,
KLM needed to do something to its aging A330-200s to attract and retain customers. To do this,
the airline announced in 2018 that it had begun to refurbish the interiors of this A330 subfleet.
This refurbishment saw all seats in World business class converted to full-flat models,
with a brand-new inflight entertainment system. In economy class,
seats were replaced and a new inflight entertainment system was installed.
When it comes to Boeing widebodies, KLM operates several variants of the 777 and the 787.
There are 31 777s in the fleet with an average age of 12 and a half years.
This divides into 15 777-200ERs which average nearly 17 and a half years of age,
as well as 16 777-300ERs which are about eight and a half years old.
Slightly older than the airline’s A330-200s, the 777-200s received
a similar cabin refurbishment a few years prior. A process that began in September 2014,
KLM announced that it had fully completed the retrofit of all 15 jets by January 2016.
With over 4,700 seats renewed with lighter materials and more advanced inflight entertainment
systems, the airline said that each aircraft was made 500 kilograms lighter due to the upgrade.
Along with its 787-9s, KLM’s 777-200s and -300s operate some of the airline’s longest routes in
the network. This includes destinations in South America as well as East and Southeast Asia.
One aircraft type that has no need for a cabin refit just yet
is the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787s.
Averaging just over four and a half years of age, the carrier has 18 Dreamliners. This divides into
13 -9s which are nearly five and a half years old, as well as five -10s, which average just
two and a half years. Indeed the 787-10s are the airline’s newest mainline aircraft.
With just five -10s in the fleet at the moment, we are far short of the 15 that KLM said it would
have by now. Indeed, this is what was stated in an official airline statement in 2019.
Data from ch-aviation notes that five more 787-10s have yet to be delivered.
Three of these already have Dutch registrations assigned to them: PH-BKH, BKI, and BKK.
It’s likely that two main factors have prevented KLM from taking new 787-10s.
First is the pandemic. The airline took four -10s in 2019 but only one in 2020,
just before the health crisis emerged. Since then, no new deliveries of this type have taken place.
The second factor is Boeing’s current issues with its ability to deliver new 787s. As
we’ve covered in several other fleet-related videos, the US planemaker suspended deliveries
in mid-October 2020 as it has been working out production issues with the FAA. There was a brief
resumption in deliveries from April to June 2021, but things have gone quiet since then.
At the time of this video’s production, deliveries of the 787 remain on hold.
KLM’s fleet has seem a dramatic shift in recent times. The biggest change
of all? The carrier’s retirement of its Boeing 747 fleet. When the pandemic hit,
KLM had been operating about two regular passenger 747-400s and six 747-400M combis.
It started with a rumor in early March that KLM would be retiring all of its 747s early.
As time passed, schedule data pointed to the rumor being true, with sources reporting that
flight KL686 on March 29th 2020 would be the final 747-400 passenger service operated by the carrier.
In April, three of the airline's jumbo jets were temporarily brought out of retirement, but only
to assist in the carrier's cargo-only efforts. As the Dutch government's need for medical supplies
dwindled, the KLM 747 era concluded in October of 2020. Data from Planespotters.net indicates
that five jumbo jets are in storage while two went to Bermudian firm, Longtail Aviation. We can also
see that in a very technical and legal sense, KLM still has three 747-400 freighters under its name.
However, this trio of jumbo jets is operated by KLM Group member Martinair and its cargo division.
These days, if you want to fly as a passenger on a Boeing 747, your best bet is to book a
trip with Air China, Lufthansa or Korean Air. All three carriers operate the newer 747-8i
while Lufthansa is the only carrier of the three to have active passenger 747-400s.
Another big KLM change hasn’t actually happened just yet. We are, of course, referring to the
airline’s decision to take on the Airbus A321 into its fleet. As part of a major Air France-KLM
Group order announced in December 2021, KLM and Transavia have a firm 100 Airbus A320neo family
aircraft on order. Additionally, the group has purchase rights for another 60 of these aircraft.
Unfortunately, the breakdown and distribution of this order between KLM and Transavia
has yet to be specified, nor do we know the balance of A320 and A321neo aircraft.
According to the airline, the first deliveries are expected in the second half of 2023.
We’re assuming leadership will simply “play it by ear” when it comes to deciding on how many
aircraft will go to each airline, and how many of each variant will be taken.
The decision to go with Airbus narrowbodies marks a huge shift for KLM- which has been,
overall, more of a Boeing-dominant airline. Indeed, in its decades of operations,
the airline has never operated a narrowbody aircraft built by Airbus.
In general, when we look at the two sides of the Air France-KLM Group, Air France has certainly
been more on the Airbus side while KLM has more often gone with Boeing. Ultimately, however,
it’s easier for the airlines to swap orders with one another given their close relationship.
At the time of the major Airbus announcement, Benjamin Smith,
CEO of the Air France-KLM Group, stated:
"These evolutionary orders will position our Group airlines on the path to improved performance
while accelerating our decarbonization trajectory. This is a major step forward for KLM, Transavia
and Air France, which will operate the best aircraft available for their network needs.”
It is indeed quite interesting that KLM opted not to go for the Boeing 737 MAX.
After the 737 program’s recovery and restoration after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019,
many airlines around the world have shown their restored faith in the MAX-
including a large number of budget airlines and a handful of full service carriers and lessors.
KLM’s transition to the latest generation of 737s would indeed be minimal, considering
its substantial fleet of older generation Boeing narrowbodies operated by the carrier.
However, for reasons undisclosed, KLM has decided to modernize this segment of its fleet with Airbus
aircraft. If you have some guesses as to why KLM chose the A320neo family over the 737 MAX,
let us know in the comments!
When it comes to the airline’s future widebody fleet, it’s possible that KLM could eventually go
for the 777X. However, considering the planemaker is only offering the larger -9 as a passenger
aircraft, a modern replacement from Boeing might be too big to replace KLM’s aging 777-200s.
The airline could just opt for more 787-10s,
but the range of the similarly-sized jet is lacking when compared to the 777-200ER.
Indeed, the 787-10’s maximum range is 2,000-3,000 kilometers shorter. The 787-9 has a better range,
but this, of course, comes at the cost of passenger capacity.
Close behind on the retirement and replacement schedule are the airline’s Airbus A330-200s.
The closest aircraft in size from Boeing is the 787-8,
which would indeed be a good fit considering KLM’s existing 787 fleet.
However, the near-identically-sized A330-800 could also be an option as an easy replacement.
As we’ve discussed in previous videos, the -800 is by far Airbus’ least popular
widebody currently being offered. According to Airbus’ most recent orders and deliveries data,
the planemaker now has just 11 A330-800s ordered.
With four delivered, two are with Kuwait Airways and another two are with Uganda Airlines.
It would be nice to see this aircraft get more orders
but many airlines have simply opted to move up to the A330-900 instead.
Again, we’d love to know what you think about how KLM might replace
its aging Boeing 777-200s and Airbus A330-200s !
In the far future, it’s possible that KLM could be the first airline to operate a Flying-V
aircraft. The airline, in cooperation with Delft University of Technology has issued a few public
statements on the progress of designing this incredibly unconventional airframe.
However, given the slow progress of bringing any cleansheet aircraft to market- even conventional
designs- the odds are seemingly stacked against the Flying-V ever becoming a full-scale,
operational reality. But of course, we’d love to be proven wrong!
Having such an unconventional aircraft in the KLM fleet
would make it one of the most unique fleets in the world. We’ll just have to wait and see…
Ultimately, when compared to the fleets of other airlines that we’ve covered in the past,
KLM’s collection of jets is indeed on the smaller side.
However, the fleet’s composition and recent changes have made it a fairly interesting
carrier to examine- particularly as it relates to the ongoing rivalry between Airbus and Boeing.
The carrier has already made one big change towards Airbus and away from Boeing,
and we’ll just have to wait and see which direction it goes to replace its older widebodies…
Our thanks again to today’s sponsor, Atlas VPN, who currently have a special $1.99 per month
offer for a 3-year subscription. Click the link in the video description below to find out more now!