KLM Cityhopper is the regional subsidiary of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (part of the Air France-KLM group). The airline's head office, the Convair Building, is on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Schiphol-Oost, Haarlemmermeer. It operates short haul services in Europe on behalf of its parent company, KLM. Therefore, the ICAO code 'KLM' is used by air traffic control and the IATA code 'KL' are used on tickets and flight information displays et cetera. Flights are scheduled to approximately 44 destinations, but this can vary on the time of year, and the carrier takes up differing routes when directed to do so by its parent company KLM.
The company identity is identical to that of its parent carrier with the addition of "Cityhopper" after the KLM crown logo and the absence of "The Flying Dutchman" and "Royal Dutch Airlines" on its aircraft livery. A revised font style was introduced in 2010.
The airline has five fully crewed UK bases in operation, inherited from its purchase of Air UK and subsequent merger of the KLM uk brand. Therefore, several hundred British cockpit and cabin crews continue to operate KLM Cityhopper flights from the UK and the Netherlands throughout the carrier's network.
KLM Cityhopper operates a structure of feeder services to its hub at Amsterdam with regular flights from all over Europe that connect to intercontinental services from its parent airline and SkyTeam partners.
History
The airline was established on 1 April 1991, and started operations the same year. It was formed from the merger of NLM CityHopper and Netherlines. As part of KLM restructuring plans, its regional subsidiaries (including KLM uk) merged in November 2002 under the KLM Cityhopper name. It is wholly owned by KLM and has 910 employees (as of March 2007).
City Hopper Video
Corporate affairs
Head office
KLM Cityhopper's head office is in the Convair Building on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Schiphol-Oost, Haarlemmermeer. In 1999 Schiphol Real Estate (SRE) contracted out a parcel of land to begin construction of the Convair Building. The building also houses the offices of KLM Recruitment Services. Originally the KLM Cityhopper head office was in the airport's Building 70.
In October 2012, KLM reportedly presented a plan to its unions that foresees splitting the airline into two separate units. According to a report by Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, KLM is considering splitting off its European operations that would operate with a lower cost base than today and include its subsidiary KLM Cityhopper. This would effectively mean an intercontinental operation to include only the wide body fleet of KLM and a European fleet operating the short to medium haul routes as a separate entity, including the current KLM Boeing 737 fleet and the entire KLM Cityhopper fleet.
Destinations
Several of KLM's internal European routes are operated by both KLM and KLM Cityhopper, depending on the time of day, the day of the week, and the time of year.
New services to Bilbao (Spain), Turin (Italy) & Zagreb (Croatia) - commenced in May 2014. Zagreb was expected to be a seasonal route but it's now served whole year round. Bilbao will see frequency increases from August until October and KLM has since announced this intended seasonal service will now be operated year round. With the introduction of the 2015 summer schedule services will be introduced to Montpellier, Kraków and Belfast, each once a day.
In 2014, Bristol & Leeds Bradford (2 KLM cityhopper uk stations) became Embraer bases. KLM cityhopper will begin flying 4 times daily to Leeds Bradford using the Embraer 190 and offering 400 seats a day on the route from May 26.
Onboard service
KLM Cityhopper offers passengers complimentary drinks and refreshments on all scheduled flights. Duty-free/tax-free products are not available. Business class passengers are offered continental breakfast boxes, sandwiches & dinner salads together with a bar service. Economy passengers are offered sandwiches or a drink and complimentary snack depending on the time of day and duration of the flight.
In line with its parent carrier, KLM Cityhopper now offers a two-class cabin service on all of its scheduled routes. Rows 1 and 2 on all aircraft are reserved for Europe Business Class passengers, and the section can be increased to additional rows subject to demand. These classes are defined by the designator "C" - For Europe Business Class & "M" For Europe Economy - in reservation systems.
From 2011, KLM committed to blocking middle seats on its short haul fleet so that business class passengers would always have an empty seat next to them for extra comfort. This means that Seats C and E on any business class row on the Fokker fleet are no longer used, and a maximum of three passengers are seated on each row - reducing the maximum capacity of the Fokker 70 on scheduled services to 76 passengers. Seat blocking is not done on the Embraer 190 fleet which only has four-abreast seating.
From April 22, 2013, KLM began charging for hold baggage on all European flights (including all KLM Cityhopper services) unless passengers are on a Business Class ticket or a member of the 'Flying Blue' frequent flyer program. The baggage fee will also be waived if the KLM Cityhopper flight is just one leg of an intercontinental trip.
Economy Comfort seats can now be purchased on all KLM cityhopper flights, rows 3 to 6 on the Fokker 70 & up to row 7 on the Embraer 190 offer economy passengers additional leg room and the convenience of forward situated seats for quicker disembarkation. The availability of this section fluctuates depending on the number of Business class seats sold on the flight.
Fleet
Current
In May 2014, KLM Cityhopper introduced a revised livery which is currently being applied to all Embraer & Fokker aircraft.
KLM Cityhopper is also responsible for the operation of the state owned Fokker 70 aircraft, registration PH-KBX. This Fokker is in use of the Dutch Government and will be replaced in 2017. Its replacement aircraft has not yet been decided.
The KLM Cityhopper fleet currently consists of the following aircraft (as of 9 October 2014):
Fleet overhaul
Following the 2003 merge in of KLM uk, KLM cityhopper had Europe's largest fleet composition of all Fokker-built aircraft, namely the Fokker 50 turboprop and the Fokker 70 and 100 jet aircraft.
In 2008 the airline announced its fleet renewal programme, starting with an order of up to 17 Embraer 190-100 aircraft to replace its ageing and inefficient Fokker 50 aircraft and older Fokker 100 jets. Five Fokker 70 jets would also transfer over from Air France subsidiary Regional.
Deliveries of the Embraer began in 2009 and by March 2010 KLM cityhopper had operated its last Fokker 50 flight. The carrier began to phase out its older Fokker 100 jets.
Further Embraer jet orders came in 2012 and allowed KLM cityhopper to remove the last five remaining Fokker 100 aircraft from its operation.
In 2013, KLM cityhopper installed brand new slim-line leather seats from British company Acro on its Fokker 70 fleet. At the same time the seat pitch was adjusted on all Fokker & Embraer aircraft to offer a 3 tier cabin product with a Business Class, Premium Economy zone & Economy zone.
Also announced in 2013 was a lease agreement with BOC to take another six Embraer 190 jets, delivery from the end of the year up to April 2014. In turn, the early retirement of 7 Fokker 70 aircraft was announced.
On April 30, 2014, KLM cityhopper took delivery of its 28th Embraer 190 making it the largest operator of the type in Europe. A brand new livery was also launched on the same day with the aircraft arriving into Amsterdam sporting a new drooped cheat line and revised titles. Fondly referred to as "the smiling Dolphin design", the adapted livery was commissioned to better suit the nose profile of modern aircraft such as the Embraer. The new look was created in house by KLM designers and will be painted on all Embraer and remaining Fokker aircraft - as well as the Dreamliner at KLM when deliveries commence in 2015.
As of January 2015, there is speculation that four further Fokker 70 aircraft will be removed from the fleet and an additional 4 Embraer 190 aircraft will be leased to replace these. The delayed announcement regarding the final replacement for the Fokker fleet is now said to be imminent.
Retired
- Fokker F27
- Fokker F28
- Fokker 50
- Fokker 100
- Saab 340
Incidents and accidents
- On 4 April 1994, a Saab 340 operating KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashed at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, killing three and seriously injuring nine people. A faulty warning light caused the crew to mistakenly believe that the engine suffered from low oil pressure. On final approach at a height of 90 feet, the captain decided to go around and gave full throttle, however only on the number one engine leaving the other in flight idle. Because of this, the aircraft rolled to the right, pitched up, stalled and hit the ground at 80 degrees bank.
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