The airline will reduce their European schedule due to the reintroduction of lockdowns but will continue to serve as many destinations as possible, though capacity and frequencies will be reduced.
Today (November 12, 2020), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced that in response to a second COVID-19 wave and associated lockdowns and travel restrictions they will reduce their European capacity. The airline will continue to serve 90-95 percent of their pre-pandemic European destinations, although capacity and frequencies will be reduced. KLM’s overall European capacity will be reduced from 50 to 40 percent, while intercontinental services will operate at around 50-60 percent or pre-crisis levels. Including cargo-only flights, the carrier will operate around 65 percent of their flights.
KLM’s strategy since the onset of the pandemic has been to continue to offer their guests as many network destinations as possible and will continue to do so with smaller aircraft and fewer frequencies via their hub at Amsterdam-Schiphol. While clear signs of recovery were evident in August and September, the second wave of COVID-19 infections has caused new restrictions across Europe, including the Netherlands.
In the coming months, KLM will launch service to new destinations to help compensate for reduced demand on other routes including four twice weekly service to Zanzibar with a stop in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) on the return leg to Amsterdam from December 10, 2020 . Starting January 4, 2021, the carrier will also offer four weekly flights to Riyadh. KLM launched thrice-daily service to the New Berlin Brandenburg (BER) “Willy Brandt” Airport on November 8th. On October 24th, the airline also resumed weekly service between Amsterdam and Chengdu as well as from Beijing to Amsterdam. From October 25th KLM also launched daily service to Poznan (Poland) and resumed intercontinental service on their Amsterdam-Calgary-Edmonton-Amsterdam route on October 29, 2020.
Source: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines