KLM "Journeys of Inspiration"

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Press release

Amstelveen & Paris 12th of September 2017

KLM-Air France announces that after weeks of negotiation with share holders it has been agreed upon that the entirety of the KLM brand and operations will be sold to the Dutch investment firm De Gulden Leeuw. To exact details of this transaction will not be disclosed as will be amounts paid and received. Considering that operations have remained largely seperately the hand over should be completed in a matter of weeks and both companies will pursue their own ways once more under their own names. KLM and Air France will however for the foreseeable future continue to work together under the Flying Blue program and both will remain part of the Skyteam alliance. The KLM Subsidiaries of KLM Cityhopper, KLM Asia, Transavia and Martinair will remain under the KLM brand and are part of this transaction.

Press release

Groningen 13th of September 2017

It is with great pleasure that we at the De Gulden Leeuw can indeed confirm that acquisition of de Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij better known internationally as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Considering the size of this acquisition we will dissolve the De Gulden Leeuw entirely into the KLM brand and operate from here under the KLM brand completely privately owned and operated. The ability to be able to take over the worlds oldest operating airline is a dream come true for many of us, we are proud of our history and we fully aim to continue that history and improve upon what we have every single day. We also want to make clear that this does not mean there will be job losses or anything along those lines, we plan to grow and not downsize, we will also keep the announced profit share program in place as we believe this is very good thing to have. As for all our passengers service remains as you where used to and changes will be made gradually over time to improve upon it part of which includes a fleet expansion and replacement program. For this we will enter talks with all major manufacturers shortly.  Any further plans will be announced shortly after they have been finalized.

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Bio: Alicia Deirde DeVries
Born from a farmers family in the north eastern part of the Groningen province in The Netherlands life was quite good for the single child. However it swiftly became clear that farming did not flow  in her vains, economics however clearly did as she loved to delve into the numbers and even negotiate on her parents behalves. Her love from economics and well making money never ceased even as she was studying at the University of Groningen she kept at it which perhaps did not help her grades, but she never had any plans to use her papers to find a job. Instead after just 2 years she dropped out and started her own small investment business De Gulden Leeuw (named after Dutch currency and the lions linked to the royal house, but also to the waponshield of the province of her birth). It did not take to long for her to grow the business swiftly during which she showed a rare sense of ethics not commonly found by people who chase money and certainly not those who run investment businesses. Her ways of investing for growth or even taking over the whole business paid off. However she was not shy about spinning off successful projects so that she could use the money to start an even larger project. Now however with nearly 20 years of doing that she made the most insane call of all some would argue, by going all in to buy the national flag carrier KLM. Whatever her plans may be it should be clear she is not going to be pleased with a status quo, but can she really manage to compete with airlines like British Airways and Ethiad?

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Jep people it has come to this I am going to leave my beloved VC10s behind for now (don't worry they will make a return in the KLM livery) and focus on a bit more of a semi realistic airline and what better airline to take over than the oldest one still in operation and my nations flag carrier KLM (not to mention which other airline has a King on their employee listing? )

More will of course come to this topic I had planned to do tons yesterday, but stuff happened so now here is a brief teaser as I spend some time collecting what I need

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New KLM owner DeVries has been spotted at Airbus HQ.

It seems that the fresh new owner of KLM has not been wasting time as she has been spotted at the Airbus HQ. No doubt she is planning for the future of KLM which she aimed squarely at growth and in some interviews since she stated that she does not fear to take on the giants, in her own words: "KLM has always been a successful middle sized airline, it operates a large numbers of smart routes with little competition and has been partnering up on busier routes to maintain those as profitable as well. However I believe we both have the means the location to become a lot larger, look at Schiphol it is a prime transfer airport with also plenty of origin and destination traffic and the number of airlines operating should make that truly and well clear. So yes I think we can do a lot better than we currently showing."

By taking those words into account it is clear she likes what is happening, but wants more of it, however today some one managed to tackle her outside of the Airbus HQ and she stated the following: "Yes I am here to explore opportunities for the KLM fleet. I can make it quite simple, but we have a quit e diverse fleet of various ages and I like to add and also replace quite a lot of it. Now I know that KLM traditionally has been a Boeing airline and I am certainly planning to talk with them as well, but the fact is that I want to push through a massive fleet renewal and that I want 1 point contact to do so. By picking either Airbus or Boeing we can keep our costs down and streamline our training and maintenance. To me the key is simply who can give me the best complete package order. What I can tell you is that most of the current fleet will be phased out as new planes come in, likely at the ratio of 1 plane leaving the fleet for every 2 added, that way we can both modernize our fleet and work on our growth."

So while it is clear she likes the way KLM picks it's routes, she is not to happy about the current fleet. Now of course there are ups and downs to flying 1 manufacturer or multiple, but that going with 1 is likely cheaper would be no surprise, but one does take an additional risk if say defects are found that ground a certain type. Say if you depend on dream liners and the whole battery item shows up or now with the hydraulics of the A350 you are in trouble to much greater degree then when you have 2 types of planes for the same role, then you only loose part of your fleet.

Anyhow looking at Airbus and the current KLM fleet, what planes could we expect to see. Currently they have 50 737 variants in service ranging from the -700 to the -900, to replace those it would seem likely they would go with a mix of A320 and A321neos. Both families of planes are really evenly matched and the nice thing is that the 737 series would sell quite well second hand considering how popular the type is. Of course the Dutch King might protest considering he just got his 737 type rating and the Dutch government just brought a 737 as it's governmental plane. That said it would be quite some time before the 737 family would be fully replaced and I am sure KLM would not mind paying for the King his training to keep him on as a pilot.

Looking at the long range they already have several A330 series planes which would likely stay around and some A350-900s on order which might be changed configuration wise, but that would be it. Now as for replacement they fly a mix of 777 and 747, now the 747 they fly in all PAX and combi variant which is already being phased out. Now I doubt that KLM would go for the A380 their business model of picking lower demand routes would not match it at all. What seems more likely is that we will see an expansion of the A350-900 orders and also some A330neos, both types largely match each other with a few difference giving KLM a few options and some redundancy in their long haul fleet if 1 type would be grounded.

It would all surely streamline their fleet, but one has to wonder how things would look if they went for Boeing instead. In that case we would likely see the 737max enter service and newer 777 series and more dream liners being added to the fleet. Speaking of those dream liners KLM still has outstanding orders and has been receiving great feedback on the plane so it is likely consider their age and specifications that these would remain in the fleet for a considerably time and if KLM would go full airbus they would be the last planes phased out. Either way the 747 will be the first victim of the long haul fleet renewal without question whether KLM picks Airbus or Boeing the 747 is going to loose out compared to the slightly smaller and more efficient twin jets.