Summary

• KLM names its aircraft based on different categories, such as birds, world heritage sites, national parks, flowers, famous squares, and famous cities.
• Boeing 737s in KLM's fleet are named after various bird species, including "Eagle," and "Golden oriole."
• Boeing 777s are named after world heritage sites and national parks, while Airbus A330s are named after famous squares.

Virgin Atlantic and KLM come quickly to mind when you think of airlines that name their planes. Tradition runs deep at the Dutch airline, where its fleet of over 100 aircraft all have various titles depending on the size of the plane.

All aircraft have registrations, also known as tail numbers. These are codes unique to a single plane required by international conventions. It indicates the aircraft's country of registration, much like a car's license plate. However, some airlines choose to give their airplanes a more personal touch. While Virgin Atlantic follows the tradition of naming through inspiration from the aircraft registration, in Holland, KLM has opted to pick their names through a list of genres inspired by the airline's worldwide network and history. If you want to find out more, keep reading.

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Macchu Picchu, or Gunung Mulu

Across the channel, SkyTeam partner Virgin Atlantic has used the likes of 'Penny Lane,' 'Miss Moneypenny,' and 'Uptown Girl.' Down in Spain, IAG's low-cost carrier Vueling sparked interest with its clever 'Veni, Vidi, Vueling' and 'Vueling in Love,' and other airlines, such as Russia's Aeroflot and the once un-stoppable Norwegian, named theirs after important people in the arts or science.

Koninklijke Luchtvaartmaatschappij NV, more commonly abbreviated to KLM, was founded in October 1919 and took its first flight in May 1920. The airline is one of the oldest airlines in the world that still has its original name. When it comes to naming its aircraft, it follows the following pattern:

• 737s: Birds
• 777-200s: World heritage sites
• 777-300s: National parks
• 787s: Flowers
• A330s: Famous squares
• 747s (which are now retired) were Famous cities

Eagles, hawks, and albatrosses

KLM does indeed name its Boeing 737s after birds. Since the airline has 48 in its fleet (12 are 737-700s, 31 are -800s, and five are -900s), a vast array of ornithological breeds are represented. There are more instantly recognizable feathered species, such as 'Owl,' 'Nightingale,' 'Swallow,' 'Crane,' 'Partridge,' 'Hawk,' 'Eagle,' and 'Goose.'

However, you may need to be more of an avid birder to immediately be able to describe a 'Golden oriole,' 'Ivory gull,' 'Great shearwater,' or an 'Amsterdam albatross.' The latter, we might add, is a critically endangered species that breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean, not a giant bird swooping over the canals of the Dutch capital.

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The Triple Sevens

KLM's 15 Boeing 777-200s are - mostly - named after world heritage sites. However, the oldest 777-200 in the carrier's fleet, delivered in October 2003, is named after Dutch aviation pioneer Albert Plesman, who was also KLM's first administrator and later director.

From then onwards, the jets received names such as 'Borobodur' - the largest Buddhist temple complex in the world, located on Java in Indonesia. Represented are also the Mayan temple 'Chichen-Itza,' India's heritage, the 'Darjeeling railway,' Finland's 'Old Rauma' harbor, and Tanzania's 'Mount Kilimanjaro,' among others.

The 16 Boeing 777-300s in the carrier's fleet are named after national parks worldwide. For instance, there is Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and the Canadian Rocky Mountains in North America. Cocos Islands and Tierra del Fuego represent other special places. From Asia, there is Yakushima and Kaziranga, and from Africa, Amboseli National Park. Europe also has a couple of examples, with KLM's native Park De Hoge Veluwe and Sweden's Fulufjället National Park.

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Dreamliner florals

Rounding out the Boeing portion of the airline's fleet are the floral Dreamliners. KLM's first 787-9, delivered in November 2015, is not named 'Oranje Blossom', as one might have imagined. That name was given instead to the first 787-10, which arrived in June 2019 and wore the unique KLM 100-year colors. The first Dreamliner to arrive in Amsterdam was instead called 'Sunflower.' Since then, there has been a bouquet of

Airbus piazzas

That leaves us the Airbus A330s. Eleven in total, they are named after famous squares worldwide and their location. The first A330 to arrive in August 2005 is named after Dam Square in Amsterdam. Represented are also Piazza Navona in Rome, Parliament Square in Edinburgh, Plaza de la Cathedral in Havana, and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, to name a few.

And, of course, it would be amiss of us not to give an honorary mention to the airline's retired Boeing 747s. Apart from cities such as Bangkok, Karachi, Johannesburg, and Calgary for the 747-400s, there were also 747-300 cargo carriers known as 'Leonardo da Vinci' and Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, as well as 747-200s named after rivers such as the Nile, Ganges, and Missouri.

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The latest names

With KLM receiving a handful of new aircraft in the last few years, we thought it would be prudent to list the latest names to join the fleet:

What aircraft names have you spotted? Let us know in the comments.

Sources: Planespotters, KLM

• 

  KLM

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  KL/KLM

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

  Year Founded:

  1919

  Alliance:

  SkyTeam

  Airline Group:

  Air France-KLM

  CEO:

  Marjan Rintel

  Country:

  Netherlands