KLM 100 Years Anniversary

07 October 2019

Today KLM, one of the world oldest airlines, marks its 100 anniversary.

Boryspil International Airport is proud of such special partner and wishes many years of prosperity to the Netherlands carrier.

The company`s history is long and in many aspects it has multiply defined the development vector of the world civil aviation, thus, we have prepared some interesting facts about the company that will most certainly amaze you.

In 1919, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands allowed the to-be-founded company to be called “Royal’.
In 1929, KLM carried passengers enroute Amsterdam – Batavia (modern Jakarta). Till the beginning of World War II, it used to be the most distant civil aviation regular scheduled route. The flight was performed with 24 stopovers and took 10 days, the route distance amounted to 11,000 km.
In 1946, KLM launched flight Amsterdam – New York. The flight was performed by four-engine aircraft Douglas DC-4 with 86 passenger seats.
In 1958, KLM set route from Amsterdam to Tokyo, via the North Pole by Douglas DC-7. The crew of this flight were equipped with the survival kit in case of the emergency landing. This kit included a rifle to scare off polar bears.
In 1974, KLM launched world`s first Full Fare Facilities class of service, equivalent to the modern business-class.
In 2006, KLM was the first company to implement self-service kiosks to print out the boarding passes.
In 2016, KLM`s first flight to New York with biofuel.
Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, has been working as KLM co-pilot on regional flights during the last 20 years.