KLM to increase flights to India, takes over Jet's slots at Amsterdam

KLM to start flights on Bengaluru-Amsterdam route from October 31

KLM is increasing its flights to India and taking over slots it gave to Jet Airways at Amsterdam airport. Jet, which operated four daily flights from Amsterdam (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Toronto), suspended operations on April 17. KLM is stepping in to fill up the capacity void caused by Jet’s grounding.  From October end, the Dutch airline will launch thrice-weekly service from Amsterdam to Bengaluru and operate daily flight to Mumbai. Currently, it has a daily flight to Delhi and thrice-weekly service to Mumbai. “The thrice-weekly connection from Bengaluru will open up more opportunities for travel from India with easy connections to Europe and North America via the convenient hub of Amsterdam Schiphol,” KLM said. Jet moved its European gateway from Brussels to Amsterdam in 2016 forging close commercial ties with Air France-KLM and Delta.

After the grounding of Jet's operations, KLM is taking over slots which it gave to Jet while other slots held by the Indian airlines will be go to the common slot pool, Dutch media reported on Tuesday. A Boeing 777 aircraft belonging to Jet was seized in Amsterdam last month over unpaid dues while last week a Dutch court declared the airline as insolvent.