We look back at KLM’s pioneering spirit through the years as it marks its centenary.

Which is the world’s oldest airline? It’s a question that sparks debate, but when it comes to continuous operation under the same name for the longest, the answer is KLM (an acronym of Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – Royal Dutch Airlines).

The flag carrier of the Netherlands celebrates its centenary this month. It was founded on October 7, 1919, by a group of investors with the backing of the Dutch royal family. Its first flight took off the following year, when two journalists were carried from London to Amsterdam on a leased De Havilland DH9A.

Business Traveller’s own 43-year history has seen us cover the airline’s ups, downs and everything in between. In his November 1981 article on the carrier (“The Flying Dutchman’s shrinking empire”), Robert Schuil wrote that it had “managed to row against the tide of history, in which pioneers and empire-builders so often go under, to remain one of the superpowers in aviation”.

Schuil noted that the company lost about half of its market share during the 1960s and ’70s, amid increasing competition from new airlines and countries’ protectionist policies. It also faced soaring oil prices and an economic slump, reducing demand. Yet it remained one of the few national airlines still reporting annual profits, and headed into the 1980s hoping that an improved product, greater cost-effectiveness and an aggressive commercial policy would see it grow.

KLM’s concerns in 2019 are both familiar and new. Now merged with Air France, it is up against low-cost carriers, slot constraints at its home airport in Schiphol and public concern about the harmful environmental impact of the airline industry. While investing in its long-haul operations with the arrival of 15 new B787-10s, the first of which has just been delivered, it is addressing sustainability through commitments such as the funding of research projects and the purchase of biofuels.

Just as we wrote in 1981, KLM must still “live within the confines of the limitations imposed upon it by a rapidly changing world”.

Read our recent interview with KLM CEO Pieter Elbers here:

KLM’s chief Pieter Elbers says connecting UK regions is airline’s “bread and butter”