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the Dow Jones Sustainability IndexES<br />
in September as a Supersector Leader.<br />
This means we got the highest scores<br />
on corporate social responsibility for<br />
the airline industry, which is really<br />
very pleasing.<br />
What is KLM doing on the ground?<br />
We have a number of exciting projects,<br />
from creating a range of belts, bags<br />
and slippers from 90,000 kilos of<br />
old stewardesses uniforms, to a<br />
solar-powered gangplank designed<br />
by a KLM ground handler. Such<br />
initiatives are catching on throughout<br />
the company and it’s great to see the<br />
ideas coming from staff right at the<br />
sharp end! So, I say to the critics that<br />
there is simply no point in saying ‘you<br />
shouldn’t fly’, as there are more and<br />
more people in the world who want to<br />
travel by air. So with that in mind, we<br />
have to create conditions that are as<br />
kind to the planet as possible, and that<br />
is what KLM aims to do.<br />
The crisis hit the airline industry<br />
hard: how did KLM suffer<br />
financially?<br />
There have been around 60,000 job<br />
losses in the European airline<br />
industry since the beginning of the<br />
crisis. At KLM, due to a unique social<br />
covenant among KLM, Martinair<br />
and Transavia (all KLM-owned<br />
companies), we have not had one<br />
forced redundancy since the crisis<br />
began. That is remarkable and<br />
illustrates how flexible the ‘KLM<br />
family’ has been. Financially, in the<br />
depth of the crisis, KLM alone lost a<br />
billion euros in net profit in two years.<br />
We went from booking a profit of E750<br />
million to a loss of E300 million. At a<br />
certain point we ran out of cash.<br />
Did AIR FRANCE then play a<br />
significant role?<br />
Most certainly: without the critical<br />
mass of the two companies we could<br />
never have secured a major bond<br />
loan, which pulled us through the<br />
financial squeeze.<br />
So when will the KLM planes be<br />
losing their light blue livery and AIR<br />
FRANCE and KLM finally merging?<br />
That simply is not going to happen.<br />
My feeling is that most passengers<br />
want a flag, a football team and an<br />
airline. By that I mean that there is a<br />
huge amount of emotion in the KLM<br />
brand which we must cherish. It is<br />
also possible that Alitalia may soon<br />
join the AIR FRANCE KLM stable,<br />
and they will not change their brand<br />
either. The same goes for all the<br />
members of SkyTeam.<br />
Are there any new key destinations<br />
for <strong>2011</strong>?<br />
Certainly! We are really expanding<br />
our long-haul designations, adding<br />
Miami, Buenos Aires, Havana, Kigali,<br />
Budapest.<br />
What’s this news in The Netherlands<br />
that KLM is offering flights to space?<br />
It’s true, but the plans are not fully<br />
developed yet: KLM has joined forces<br />
with the Space Experience Curacao,<br />
which aims in 2014 to launch flights<br />
100 kilometres high to suborbital space.<br />
This is a fantastic project which really<br />
reflects the Dutch East India Company<br />
pioneering spirit. We at KLM aim to<br />
sell the first tickets into space and have<br />
booked a couple of free flights for our<br />
best frequent fliers. So you can see, we<br />
never stop looking to the future. And<br />
the future is exciting!<br />
Holland Herald 31
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