KLM and regional partner Cityhopper have 3,525 movements (arrivals and departures) at Amsterdam this week. This makes it the 10th-largest carrier serving Europe, with more flights than the likes of British Airways, Iberia, SAS, and SWISS. Some 158 routes are operated, with a really clear wave structure at its Schiphol hub.

Despite the pandemic, KLM is pushing ahead. It is now at 67% of its pre-coronavirus number of flights, the second-best result in Europe behind only Turkish Airlines. But there is a long way to go in returning capacity, fares, and passenger volumes, with the EU's vaccine passport scheme going to help. Where is KLM flying this week?

Despite restrictions, the USA is KLM's fourth most-served country if measured in seats. Photo: Getty Images

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.

KLM has 158 destinations this week

The short 248-mile link to Paris CDG, obviously crucial for the Air France-KLM Group, has the most outbound departures in the week starting July 2nd. However, all of the following have about four departures on most days.

  • Paris CDG
  • Barcelona
  • Berlin
  • Heathrow
  • Stockholm Arlanda
  • Copenhagen
  • Budapest
  • Rome Fiumicino
  • Hamburg
  • Nice
  • Düsseldorf

Some 67 countries will see KLM. The UK has the most flights, followed by Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, and Poland. The UK is crucial to the Dutch carrier, with 17 airports served and 436 movements. However, it has rebounded slower than others, with less than half of pre-coronavirus flights (46%).

KLM CityHopper Embraer
KLM Cityhopper is a feeder airline for KLM. Photo: Getty Images.

Eight routes to the USA

If seats are looked at, the US becomes KLM's fourth-largest country to be served, behind only the UK, Italy, and Germany, and ahead of Spain. This is despite the ongoing restrictions. The Dutch carrier has eight routes to the US, with a twice-daily offering to New York JFK.

If partner Delta is included, 12 US airports are served. On a typical day this week, these KLM and Delta's departures to the country.

From Amsterdam to...

Leaving Amsterdam at…

Airline

Aircraft

KLM has really clear waves for connections

KLM is a network airline. This means it is built for transit passengers. This can be seen in the following figure, with extremely clear waves throughout the day. A wave comprises one arrivals bank and one bank of departures. Minimizing the gap between the two helps improve usability and convenience, and therefore competitiveness.

The busiest period for arrivals, from 19:00 to 19:59, sees flights from nearly 50 European airports. Image: OAG

Busiest arrivals period

As you can see, the largest arrival bank this week is 19:00-19:59. This bank has arrivals from almost 50 airports across all Europe, with most arrivals leaving the airport from which they come at the end of the business day. For example, the departure from Heathrow is at 17:15, Barcelona at 18:15, and Hamburg at 18:35. This inbound bank is also important for attracting point-to-point travelers, who are higher-yielding than those transiting.

These airports all have KLM arrivals into Amsterdam between 19:00 and 19:59. These are good for P2P demand but also connections across Europe and Asia in particular. Image: GCMap.

The arrivals from 19:00-19:59 then feed departures from Schiphol between 20:00 and 22:30 across Europe, Asia, Middle East, and South America, although long-haul is understandably currently really scaled back. For example, a passenger from Madrid would arrive at 19:50 and leave for Singapore around 90 minutes later.

Have you flown KLM or transited Amsterdam? Let us know what you thought in the comments.