Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (Royal Aviation Company), known by its initials KLM, is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. Its hub is at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. KLM was founded in October 1919 by Albert Plesman, making it the oldest carrier in the world still operating under its original name. The first KLM flight was on 17 May 1920, from London to Amsterdam. In 1921 KLM started scheduled services.
Intercontinental service to the Netherlands East Indies started in 1929. This was for several years the world’s longest scheduled air route. The first transatlantic KLM test flight was between Amsterdam and Curacao in December 1934.
During the entire world war II a number of KLM planes and KLM crew would fly the infamous Bristol-Lisbon scheduled passenger flights under BOAC registration.
In early 1946 KLM recommenced European flights. In May 1946 KLM was the first continental European airline to start transatlantic scheduled flights (to New York). In July 1957 the airline introduced its flight simulator for the DC 7 which opened the trans-polar route from Amsterdam via Anchorage to Tokyo in  November 1958. In March 1960, KLM introduced the first DC-8 jet into its fleet. KLM was the first airline to put the higher gross-weight Boeing 747-200 into service, starting in 1971, thus beginning the airline’s era of widebody jets.
In 1989, KLM introduced the Boeing 747-400 and acquired 20% of Northwest Airlines, starting an alliance between the two airlines. The merger of KLM with Air France in 2004 created Air France-KLM, which is incorporated under French law. Both Air France and KLM continue to fly under their distinct brand names. Air France-KLM is part of the Sky Team alliance.
In 2010, Northwest Airlines was absorbed into Delta Airlines, ending their 21-year long alliance. Later in 2010 KLM announced that the passenger division of Martinair would be integrated within KLM. In 2011 KLM and InselAir International have reached an agreement for mutual interline cooperation on Insel Air destinations.
Source: Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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