KLM has announced plans to operate flights to 167 destinations this summer.
The airline will fly to 96 European and 71 intercontinental destinations from March 27 to October 29.
In response to a rise in demand for bookings, the airline has expanded capacity on European routes by 10 per cent and on its intercontinental route network by 17 per cent compared to last year.
Frequencies have been increased on routes to Britain, Germany and Poland due to the airline’s anticipation for an increase in business travel.
Belgrade, Dubrovnik and Palma de Mallorca, which were added to the route network last year, will also be included in the summer schedule.
Services to Kyiv, St Petersburg and Moscow will continue to be suspended due to the war in Ukraine.
The airline will also operate daily flights to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao this summer, with the latter’s frequency increasing to twice daily during the summer holiday season. There will also be three-times-weekly flights between Amsterdam and Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, this summer.
Meanwhile the airline’s capacity to the US this summer will be equal to that of 2019, and it will operate direct services to 12 destinations in the US this summer, including the launch of a three-times-weekly service to Austin.
Demand is also increasing for destinations reopening their borders in Asia. These include the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Bali.
KLM will also increase frequencies to Delhi and Mumbai, as “India too has indicated that it will be easing travel restrictions”.
It will not, however, resume its usual network services to China due to existing travel restrictions. The airline stated in a press release:
“Due to EU sanctions against Russia, KLM is not operating in Russian airspace. Flight times to and from South Korea, Japan and China are consequently on average two hours longer than usual. Flights to Japan and China are currently making a stopover in Seoul.”
Capacity on most routes to South America has almost been restored to pre-pandemic levels, with daily services to Sao Paulo, Panama City and Lima with a minimum of six flights a week to Quito/Guayaquil, Bogota/Cartagena, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires/Santiago de Chile.
Passengers can also fly to ten destinations in Africa this summer including Zanzibar, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Accra, Lagos, Kigali, Entebbe, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, and Dar es Salaam.