KLM has expanded its general aviation services in Holland by taking over the jet centre FBO at Rotterdam Airport, now called the KLM Jet Centre. The company already has a general aviation FBO at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, which has been in operation for 19 years.

Business unit manager Maurice van der Heijden told EBAN: “The airport offers easy access and is well-situated in the city, which is a good business centre.

“It’s a good airport and is the only one open during night time for this type of traffic in the Netherlands. Looking at the night restrictions in Amsterdam we see a lot of movements at the beginning and end of the day diverting to Rotterdam.”

KLM took over the FBO to expand its general aviation capabilities in the Netherlands and saw Rotterdam as the ideal location. “For the flying crew we have the best facility there – there have been a lot of polls among the flying crews and we are in the leader board!” said van der Heijden.

“One of the reasons we took over the jet centre is because the facilities are perfect. We aim to get our Rotterdam and Schiphol facilities operating at the same level as I think Rotterdam is better at the service side and Amsterdam is better at the operational side.”

The company is operating a 24-hour service at Rotterdam with aircraft, passenger and baggage handling. It aims to introduce its Flying Dutchman loyalty programme to Rotterdam next year.

“There’s a lot of traffic right now, both at Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The European Championship has brought a lot of business to the region and this year we’ve seen an increase in the economy and number of flights. Next year we expect even more traffic because the military airport, Valkenburg, will close, which means a lot of the political traffic will come to Rotterdam,” he said.

“Annually at Amsterdam there are about 4,500 departures per year and Rotterdam has about 60 per cent of that figure, which we expect will increase. If you look at GA in the Netherlands in the last 10 years you can see an increase every year of at least five per cent. There was a dip in 2003, but business aviation is very sensitive to economic rises and falls.”

Last year, KLM made the decision to maintain its business aviation operations in Holland, with a view to expanding the services to meet demand. “We decided that to do so it must be in a professional way, with more FBOs, a good loyalty programme and a high level of service which is recognisable at every

FBO. Our first priority is to get the Rotterdam and Amsterdam facilities working in a way that our customers expect.”

KLM took on all the previous staff at the jet centre, as Dutch law states that if a company takes over the activities of another, it must also take on the staff. “It’s working well, the staff here are great, especially on the service side,” said van der Heijden.