KLM Launches Miami-Amsterdam Nonstop Service

KLM Launches Miami-Amsterdam Nonstop Service

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines celebrated the launch of its new Miami-Amsterdam route on March 21, 2011 with a music festival theme. Aboard the flight were DJs and dance fans, as well as a large group of bloggers, tweeters, journalists, travel industry professionals, clients and KLM executives.

KLM advanced this unique inaugural flight from March 27 to March 21 because of a communication on Twitter. When KLM announced the upcoming service, members of the Dutch music community tweeted KLM asking the airline to advance its nonstop flight in order to attend the Miami Ultra Music Festival starting March 25. KLM responded with a challenge; if the Dutch music community could fill up the flight, KLM would agree to advance its non-stop flight from Amsterdam to Miami. The flight was filled within a few hours.

“This flight is a historic one for us,” said Patrick Roux, senior vice president for Air France and KLM for the Americas. “Not only does it mark a milestone in terms of the launch of an additional route for KLM in the U.S., but it also set a Guinness World Record for the highest Altitude Dance Party, 10,000 kilometers above sea level.”

A water cannon salute, provided by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, welcomed the flight as it touched down in Miami. Following the airport festivities, there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the first nonstop Miami to Amsterdam outbound flight. The evening was topped off with a gala musical reception at the Mondrian Hotel, co-hosted by KLM and its joint venture partner, Delta Air Lines. Delta, in cooperation with KLM, will be launching its Miami/London-Heathrow nonstop service on March 26 as well as its new nonstop intra-Florida service (Miami to Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa).

KLM’s new non-stop flights, operating four times a week in collaboration with Delta, will depart Miami on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 9:30 p.m. and arrive in Amsterdam the next day at 12:20 p.m. local time. The return flights will depart from Amsterdam on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 3:10 p.m., arriving in Miami at 7:10 p.m. local time.

The joint venture partners Delta, KLM, Air France and Alitalia will now serve five nonstop destinations in Europe (Amsterdam, London Heathrow, Paris-CDG, Rome and Milan) and offer more than 200 flights a week from Miami and more than 550 flights a week from Miami,