KLM to resume Amsterdam-Calgary service after 12-year break

After an absence of 12 years, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the national airline of the Netherlands and also a part of Air France-KLM, is resuming service to Calgary, the largest city in the province of Alberta in Canada, with non-stop flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport from May 3, 2009.

KLM will operate the new service using Airbus 330-200 planes.

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has often been voted as Europe’s top airport hub, from which travellers can connect to over 65 destinations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The announcement by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines brings the number of international carriers that came to Calgary Airport in 2008 to three, following Lufthansa and Mexicana Airlines.

Emirates Airlines, based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, is likely to start service to Calgary.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, based in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, operates domestic and worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to over 90 destinations. Its main base is Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The merging of KLM with Air France in May 2004 created Air France-KLM. Air France-KLM, incorporated under French law, is headquartered at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, France. Both Air France and KLM continue to fly under their distinct brand names. Air France-KLM is a part of the SkyTeam alliance along with Delta Air Lines, Aeroméxico, Korean Air, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, Northwest Airlines, Aeroflot, China Southern Airlines, and Continental Airlines.

Hans W.de Roos, KLM’s senior vice-president for strategy and corporate development, told a news conference: “The announcement of the non-stop flights between Calgary Amsterdam comes in the midst of a financial crisis, with an economic downturn around the corner and continued uncertainty around oil prices, but that did not deter the airline from returning to Calgary. Though we Dutch are the co-founder of Shell Oil and we sit on one of Europe’s largest natural gas bubbles, we recognise a real energy capital when we see one.”

He added that “there is potential for the initial five-flights-a-week service to Amsterdam to move to daily service, which KLM offers on all its other North American destinations, depending on how the route fares.”

De Roos said he doubts if the first flights between Calgary and Amsterdam, using the 251-seat Airbus 330-200, will reach that capacity initially, but “eventually, numbers will approach that mark.”

The website canada.com quoted an airlines analyst as commenting on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ Calgary-Amsterdam service: “In these economic times, right now this is a very significant announcement. KLM represents one of the key European prestige carriers, not only in Europe but also on the planet. The new, direct service means that Calgarians will no longer have to change planes in Toronto, Vancouver or Minneapolis to get to Schiphol Airport.”

Dave Bronconnier, Mayor of Calgary, remarked that KLM’s announcement is “a good sign for the city” and added: “I think this speaks volumes to the Calgary economy, when you look at this is the only new route that KLM is announcing. That of course speaks to the energy industry, it speaks to the business travellers and it speaks to the leisure traveller.”