KLM PURSUES IMPROVED NETWORK EXPLOITATION IN WINTER SCHEDULE

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will respond to general stagnation and diminishing demand on some routes by trimming frequencies and deploying smaller aircraft on certain routes at the start of the 2001/2002 winter schedule. The capacity that is freed up will be used to raise frequency on more profitable routes. Overall capacity will be reduced by 3 percent at the start of the 2001/2002 winter schedule on October 28, compared to the 2000/2001 winter schedule. This will lead to a reduction of the number of jobs, which can be covered by natural attrition.

Intercontinental

KLM will scrap two weekly roundtrips to Dubai this winter, leaving twelve flights a week. KLM will also scrap one weekly roundtrip on the routes to Almaty, Damascus/Amman, New York, Sapporo/Nagoya, Teheran, and Tel Aviv. The five weekly KLM flights to Kuala Lumpur will fly on to Manila, making Kuala Lumpur an intermediate stop between Amsterdam and the Philippine capital. Malaysia Airlines will supplement the five KLM flights to Kuala Lumpur with a daily MH/KL codesharing flight between Amsterdam and the Malaysian capital. KLM will also raise its frequency to Johannesburg from seven to nine roundtrips a week. Curaçao/Aruba will be served by one additional weekly flight.

Europe

KLM will begin operating a fifth daily roundtrip to both Hamburg and Milan Malpensa. On the Vienna route, however, frequency will be reduced from five to four daily flights. KLM cityhopper will terminate its services to Malmo. The greater Malmo area will be served by Copenhagen airport, which is now easily accessible via the new bridge over the Sont. The Fokker 50 capacity freed up by termination of direct service to Malmo, will be used for extra frequencies to Bremen, Bristol, Brussels and Luxembourg, to meet growing demand on these routes and establish extra connections with Schiphol.

KLM cityhopper will be taking over the Eurowings services to Stuttgart and Cologne this winter. KLM already took over the Eurowings service to Bremen this summer, resulting in greater passenger satisfaction and lower costs.



Fleet

The introduction of the Boeing 737 Next Generation will be rounded off shortly before the winter schedule starts, giving KLM a Next Generation fleet of four Boeing 737-900s and 13 737-800s. These larger 737s will replace smaller, older Boeing 737s, thus improving product and passenger satisfaction as well as reducing unit costs.

KLM cityhopper will add a 15th Fokker 70 to its fleet, to allow for the phased takeover of Eurowings services between Schiphol and German destinations. Having previously grounded a full-passenger Boeing 747-300, KLM will also be grounding a 747-300 combi this winter.