Interview: KLM CEO on Why His Airline Still Feeds Passengers for Free
Photo Credit: KLM CEO Pieter Elbers. He is charged with ensuring the Dutch airline remains innovative, even though it is part of a much larger company. KLM
Skift Take
KLM may not be a perfect airline, but it's surprisingly spunky considering it's owned by a giant French company that also controls Air France. The two airlines couldn't be more different.
Future of Passenger Experience
To better understand the challenges facing airlines in an age of fluctuating oil prices, rapid growth, and changing passenger expectations, our Future of Passenger Experience series will allow leaders in the industry to explain their best practices and insights.KLM CEO Pieter Elbers reached the top the hard way, climbing the corporate ladder for more than two decades, starting in 1992 supervising aircraft loading at the carrier's Amsterdam hub.
Since 2014, he has led one of Europe's quirkiest — and most profitable— airlines, managing 33,000 employees. In part because of its robust long-haul network and its trans-Atlantic partnership with Delta Air Lines, KLM made 681 million Euros (about $764.1 million) in operating profit last year, 300 million ($336.6 million) more than in the previous year.
But not all is perfect at KLM because the Dutch carrier is not an independent company. In 2004, it merged with Air France, and the combined company is called Air France-KLM. The full company is profitable, but KLM far outperformed its French cousin last year, with France's flag carrier earning about 372 million Euros ($417.4 million). This happened even though Air France has about twice as many aircraft as
