With the summer holiday period from July through to the end of September, this is traditionally a strong quarter for the airline industry. Borders within Europe gradually opened up for travelers and the Caribbean part of the kingdom was assigned a green or yellow colour code by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Partly as a result of this, KLM welcomed 5.2 million passengers on board last summer, compared to 2.3 million in 2020 and 9.5 million in 2019. Transavia also reflects a positive trend. This shows that recovery has continued across the passenger business. Customers want to travel and the impact of borders opening up is directly visible in the bookings. For next winter, customers will be able to choose from 162 KLM destinations. What’s more, the range of destinations, with more emphasis on leisure, will return to its pre-Covid-19 level.

Cargo continues to perform well. Turnover rose to €467 million, representing an increase of 13%, even though market capacity was up compared to the third quarter of 2020. The maintenance division continued to suffer from the decreasing demand for third-party maintenance. Third-party turnover therefore amounted to €77 million, reflecting a decrease of 22%.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has resumed operating services to almost its entire pre-Covid network (one destination excepted). Intercontinental flights will be operating at around 75% of capacity this winter compared to winter 2019.

Now that vaccinated European travelers will again be welcome in the United States starting  November 8, KLM will expand capacity to various US destinations. The number of flights to Atlanta, for example, will almost double to 12 a week, and there will be 11 weekly flights to New York JFK this winter.

KLM will also serve Las Vegas and Miami this winter, both three times a week. Service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, which resumed in the summer, will also continue this winter with three weekly flights.

KLM began noticing a sharp rise in demand for travel to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands this summer. That is why the airline is also expanding capacity to the Caribbean and will double the number of flights to Curaçao to 14 a week. It will also boost daily capacity on the route to Aruba and Bonaire by deploying a Boeing 777-300ER, its largest passenger aircraft. To meet anticipated demand during the Christmas holiday season, KLM is planning three additional weekly flights to these islands, bringing the total number of weekly flights to Aruba and Bonaire to ten by the end of the year.

The KLM network is also showing signs of recovery in South America, with four flights a week to San José and Liberia in Costa Rica (up from two last winter) and daily service to Panama City. Capacity on the route to Paramaribo will also increase considerably this winter, with four weekly flights (compared to one last winter due to strict travel restrictions). KLM’s longest scheduled service, nonstop from Amsterdam to Santiago de Chile, will continue this winter with three weekly flights.

This winter will see the introduction of four entirely new destinations: Mombasa, Cancún, Port of Spain and Bridgetown. The first flight to Cancún in Mexico will take off on 2 November, with five weekly flights during the Christmas holiday season. This will bring the total number of weekly KLM flights to Mexico to 12. The first (combined) flight to Port of Spain in Trinidad & Tobago and Bridgetown in Barbados took off on 16 October and will eventually operate three times a week. Scheduled service to Mombasa in Kenya is expected to commence in early December; KLM is currently in the process of obtaining the necessary flight permits from the Kenyan authorities.

KLM’s Asian network is still hampered by travel restrictions. As a result, demand for these flights lags behind those for other regions. The demand for cargo transport to and from Asia remains high, however, allowing KLM to continue serving many of its destinations this winter season.

Europe

In Europe, KLM is meeting the sharp rise in demand for both holiday and business travel. New destinations such as Zagreb and Poznan proved popular soon after their introduction this summer and KLM plans to continue operating these services this winter. With their addition, the number of European destinations served by KLM will in fact exceed that of winter 2019.

In many cases, the number of flights to European destinations is still slightly down on pre-Covid-19 figures. KLM is operating at about 84% of its European network capacity. Even so, the airline is once again serving Europe’s major cities, including Berlin, London, Munich and Paris, at least five times a day. This makes KLM’s winter schedule, with more flights than in the summer, attractive for the growing number of European business travelers. By increasing the number of flights in Europe, KLM will once again be able to connect many European locations through Amsterdam Schiphol, boosting the airport’s status as a global hub.

During the first half of 2021, KLM incurred an operating loss of EUR 522 million, with revenues amounting to EUR 2,137 million. In the first half of 2020, KLM incurred a loss of EUR 768 million, with revenues amounting to 2,841 million.

Our successful focus on cost control and our network strategy, to keep serving as many destinations as possible, compensated somewhat for the negative financial results of our passenger business.

We welcomed 3.7 million passengers in the first six months of 2021. That is a lot lower than the 6.7 million passengers we carried in the first half of 2020, although it bears mentioning that business remained relatively normal for the first two months of 2020, after which operations shut down almost entirely.

The maintenance division has also experienced the impact of delayed recovery, with revenues from third-party contracts down 49% to EUR 225 million. Our cargo business was strong once more, with revenues up 57% to EUR 974 million.

Adjusted travel measures in Europe positive for customers
Recovery was delayed and did not take place as anticipated, only materializing in the first half of 2021, with the coronavirus pandemic coming in waves, accompanied by strict travel restrictions, including compulsory tests for transfer passengers in the Netherlands. This caused uncertainty among customers with regard to booking. Moreover, the strict entry restrictions imposed by many Asian countries and the restrictions on Europeans traveling to the United States remain in force.

It is positive that the Dutch government will change its policy on travel within Europe effective 8 August. This offers our Dutch customers greater certainty and ensures that travel options are less dependent on changes in the number of infections.

The need for harmonization of travel regulations within Europe remains essential. Our customers need clarity and predictability.

The crisis at KLM has offered fertile ground for innovation, as exemplified by our Upload@Home service, which enables customers to check their coronavirus-related documentation ahead of departure to a growing array of destinations.

Only essential travel is currently permitted to many countries in the Caribbean and South America; considerable travel restrictions remain in place. Mandatory quarantine is also required for travelers arriving from some countries.

KLM’s global network of destinations is at the heart of KLM’s strategy to emerge stronger and more competitive from the Covid-19 crisis. KLM has maintained this network as much as it could since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, making it possible for customers to make (essential) journeys and allowing the transportation of cargo, such as medical supplies, to continue. This strategy will enable KLM to scale up frequencies and capacity as further rules are relaxed.

The most important changes compared to 2019

• The summer 2021 KLM network to the Caribbean and South America comprises 17 destinations, the same number as summer 2019.
• The new destinations of Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago) and Bridgetown (Barbados) will be offered from the winter of 2021.
• San José (Costa Rica) and Liberia (Costa Rica) were added to the summer schedule in 2021. These destinations were previously only offered during the winter season. Services to Havana (Cuba) and Fortaleza (Brazil) are temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• During the high season, 24 flights a week depart for Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. This is substantially more than in 2019, when there were 17 flights a week to the islands.