KLM to return to Detroit
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will soon return to Detroit Metro Airport when it begins daily, nonstop flights between Detroit and Amsterdam, beginning March 30.
KLM served Detroit until 2003, when joint-venture partner Northwest Airlines assumed operation of all flights from Detroit to Europe for Northwest/KLM. The addition of the new, KLM-operated flight on this route will provide Northwest/KLM with a fifth daily nonstop flight between Detroit and Amsterdam for summer 2008.
"While we consider KLM to have been serving Detroit for the past five years by virtue of its transatlantic joint venture with our hub carrier Northwest Airlines, it’s nonetheless exciting for Detroit to welcome KLM-operated flights back to our region," said Wayne County Airport Authority CEO Lester Robinson. "KLM’s new flight will connect Northwest’s largest hub in Detroit and KLM’s largest hub in Amsterdam."
KLM’s new, daily flight between Detroit Metro and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will use Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Eastbound, the flight will leave Detroit at 8:45 p.m. and arrive at Amsterdam at 10:40 a.m. The westbound flight will depart Amsterdam at 3:20 p.m. and arrive in Detroit at 6:05 p.m.
KLM will become the first of three new SkyTeam foreign-flag carriers to enter the Detroit market in the next year. The other two are AeroMéxico and China Southern Airlines.
