By now many of you will be aware that KLM of the Netherlands is first and foremost a sixth-freedom airline.
It therefore means it must continually open new routes to fuel its network.
So it’s hardly a surprise that KLM will add Katowice in southern Poland to its network from October 30.
Luchtvaartnieuws reports that a single daily flight will be operated by an Embraer 195, which can accommodate up to 132 passengers.
At a time when most European carriers serve maybe a couple of destinations in Poland we find that KLM already serves no fewer than five: Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw.
Flight timings are:
KL 1815 Amsterdam-Katowice 1420-1610
KL 1816 Katowice-Amsterdam 1650-1850
However this extra route comes at a time when KLM is up against capacity constraints at its home base – Schiphol.
In July Schiphol told its airline customers to make cuts both in terms of flight and passenger numbers.
Schiphol tells airlines to reduce the number of passengers on their flights
Then last week Schiphol told its airlines to reduce the number of flights by a further 18 per cent between now and the end of October. This is to reduce congestion within Schiphol’s single terminal.
KLM was not pleased. It must now cancel up to 40 flights every day.
But that’s not the end of the story.
KLM must operate empty flights to bring back travellers who would otherwise be stranded overseas. Some of these travellers will be making connections at Schiphol.
The continuing problems at Schiphol, which have lasted since May, have led to the resignation of CEO Dick Benschop.
Hopefully the Schiphol situation will have eased by the end of October.