KLM introduces its “Delft Blue” Triple Seven

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam) on June 15 introduced its “Delft Blue” logojet at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airpot. Together with the Mayor of Delft and KLM Managing Director Erik Varwijk, KLM opened the hangar doors, revealing this unique aircraft. Boeing 777-206 ER PH-BQP (msn 32721) boasts a coat of 4,000 stickers, each in the form of a Delft Blue tile.

The marketing campaign began with the worldwide Tile & Inspire contest that ran between April and May 2011. Everyone was invited to participate online, mainly via Facebook, to create a Delft Blue tile with an inspiring message in a bid to secure a place on a KLM aircraft. Around 4,000 winners were selected at random from the most inspiring entries. These tiles can now be seen on this Boeing 777-200, which also went into revenue service on the same day.

Delft Blue is linked to both Dutch culture and KLM. Since the 1950s, KLM has been presenting miniature Delftware houses to its World Business Class passengers travelling on intercontinental flights.

Delftware, or Delft pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around the city of Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the 16th century.

Delftware is also a type of pottery in which a white glaze is applied, usually decorated with metal oxides. Delftware includes pottery objects of all descriptions such as plates, ornaments and tiles.

As many as 120,000 tiles were created in 154 countries; some 77,000 were submitted for a place on the aircraft. The campaign generated more than 50,000 extra likes on KLM’s Facebook page and more than 450,000 views on YouTube

KLM’s recent worldwide online Tile & Inspire campaign has been a great success. KLM challenged its Facebook fans and passengers to convert their profile pictures into a Delft Blue tile with an inspiring message, in the hope of winning a place on the body of a KLM Boeing 777-200. Inspiring messages were considered in Chinese, German, English, French, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. In the end, an entire series of tiles in these languages were selected for the aircraft. These inspiring messages will soon be flying to multiple destinations.

KLM Slide Show: CLICK HERE