FLASHBACK: On This Day in 1919, KLM Was Founded as The World’s Oldest Airline Still Flying

On October 7, 1919, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was formally established, making it the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name.

The airline was founded by eight investors from the banking and business sectors, who appointed Albert Plesman as its administrator.

Queen Wilhelmina had already granted the company the “Royal” designation before its official founding, underscoring the growing importance of civil aviation to the Netherlands.

KLM operated its inaugural flight on May 17, 1920, marking the start of scheduled service between London and Amsterdam. Pilot Jerry Shaw flew a leased De Havilland DH-16 from London to Schiphol, carrying two journalists, a letter from the Mayor of London to his Amsterdam counterpart, and a stack of newspapers.

In 1921, KLM welcomed its first Fokker aircraft, beginning a partnership with the Dutch manufacturer that would last nearly 100 years. The airline also established its own maintenance division that same year.

KLM made its first intercontinental test flight from Amsterdam to Batavia in 1924, demonstrating that Europe and Asia could be safely connected by air.

By 1930, the airline launched a scheduled service between the two cities, which was the world’s longest scheduled air service before World War II.

In 1946, KLM became the first airline to operate scheduled service from the European continent to New York, laying the foundation for its transatlantic network.

On its 100th anniversary in 2019, KLM President and CEO Pieter Elbers said, “The fact that we are celebrating our 100th anniversary is not just testimony to a century of successful enterprise, innovation, and commerce, but also to the faith that customers and partners have in KLM. It is an ode to KLM’s aviation pioneers, who literally put civil aviation on the map worldwide”.

The airline also marked the occasion with its 100th Delftware miniature house, a tradition of presenting replicas of Dutch monumental buildings to World Business Class passengers since the 1950s.