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KLM presents Delft Blue aircraft


WEBWIRE

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines today presented its Delft Blue aircraft at Schiphol. Together with the Mayor of Delft, KLM Managing Director Erik Varwijk opened the hangar doors, revealing this unique aircraft. The 64-metre-long, 18-metre-high aircraft boasts a coat of 4,000 stickers, each in the form of a Delft Blue tile.

Amstelveen - The initiative began with the worldwide Tile & Inspire campaign that ran between April and May. Everyone was invited to participate online, mainly via Facebook, to create a Delft Blue tile with an inspiring message in a bid to secure a place for it on a KLM aircraft. Around 4,000 winners were selected ad random from the most inspiring entries. These tiles can now be seen on the Boeing 777-200, which will make its first flight today.

“With this Delft Blue aircraft, KLM is establishing a link between its history and the social media. The successful online Tile & Inspire campaign has enabled us to actively involve our passengers in relation to an age-old Dutch product: Delft Blue. Delft Blue is of course inextricably linked to both Dutch culture and KLM. Since the 1950s, KLM has been presenting miniature Delftware houses to its World Business Class passengers travelling on intercontinental flights. We are extremely proud that one of our aircraft now boasts a complete Delft Blue exterior,” said Erik Varwijk.

As many as 120,000 tiles were created in 154 countries; some 77,000 were submitted for a place on the aircraft. The campaign generated more than 50,000 extra likes on KLM’s Facebook page and more than 450,000 views on YouTube

KLM’s recent worldwide online Tile & Inspire campaign has been a great success. KLM challenged its Facebook fans and passengers to convert their profile pictures into a Delft Blue tile with an inspiring message, in the hope of winning a place on the body of a KLM Boeing 777-200. Inspiring messages were considered in Chinese, German, English, French, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. In the end, an entire series of tiles in these languages were selected for the aircraft. These inspiring messages will soon be flying to multiple destinations.

About KLM

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in 1919, making it the world’s oldest airline operating under its original name. In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to form AIR FRANCE KLM. The merger produced the strongest European airline group based on two powerful brand names and hubs – Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle. The two airlines collaborate on three core activities while maintaining their own identities – passenger transport, cargo transport, and aircraft maintenance.

In the Netherlands, KLM comprises the core of the KLM Group which further includes KLM cityhopper, transavia.com en Martinair. KLM serves 130 destinations using a modern fleet of 158 aircraft and employs over 33,000 people around the world. KLM is a leader in the airline industry, which offers reliable operations and customer-oriented products resulting from its policy of enthusiasm and sustainable innovation.

KLM is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global airline alliance with 13 members providing access to an extensive global network with over 12,500 daily flights to 898 destinations in 169 countries. KLM participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France, Delta and Alitalia. With nearly 250 daily trans-Atlantic flights and a fleet of 144 aircraft, the joint venture between AIR FRANCE-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines provides customers with the benefits of a vast route network offering more frequencies, competitive fares and harmonized services on all trans-Atlantic flights. The JV network is structured around seven main hubs: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York-JFK, Paris-CDG and Rome Fiumicino, together with Cincinnati, Lyon, Milan, Memphis and Salt Lake City.



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