During the recent centenary celebration of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently, the General Manager KLM Nigeria & Ghana, Michel Colleau disclosed that the airline started flight operations between Amsterdam and Kano in 1947.
The airline was setup by Albert Plesman on October 7, 1919, and started operations on May 19, 1920.
With a fascinating history of continuous service starting out with historic short flights to London, then expanding to offer intercontinental service to Asia, and today serving 145 destinations worldwide with 168 aircraft, KLM has a reason to roll out the big drums.
It began operations in Nigeria 72 years ago in 1947 and has expanded its reach across the country over the years. It operates daily to Lagos.
To commemorate the momentous occasion, the airline threw a celebration at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Victoria Island with Nigerian music artist Asa and a surprise Flash Mob on unsuspecting travelers at Murtala Mohammed International airport, Lagos.
Before the high-octane party at the Netherlands embassy, top management staff of the airline met with journalists in Lagos. General Manager KLM Nigeria & Ghana, Michel Colleau whilst enumerating the airline’s plans went down memory lane. Colleau recalled how KLM begun flight operations between Amsterdam and Kano in 1947.
He used the opportunity to show journalists video slides of “KLM Experience”, where they were treated to an impressive overview of KLM’s past, present and future. This included an in-depth look at KLM’s development over the decades and the role it played in international civil aviation.
He also used the occasion to hint on the airline’s plan to increase its capacity between Lagos and Amsterdam even as he declared the intention of the carrier to do more in the area of conducting its operations using biofuel, to encourage sustainability.
