KLM Boeing 777 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
Taken by @tvdg.planespotting on Instagram
On the 4th of April 2020, KLM's Boeing 777-200ER will touch down at Sydney International Airport for the first time in 20 years. Flight KL827 took off yesterday evening at approximately 20:50 CET to Sydney via Kuala Lumpur. The Dutch airline is carrying out six of these repatriation flights due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Which are in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aircraft will take off for Europe on the 5th of April, landing on the 6th. The same flight will occur from the 6th to the 10th of April. After that, Malaysia Airlines will transfer passengers from Australia and New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur where they will return to Europe via KLM.
“We are proud to be meaningful in this way during this global crisis,” says Rene de Groot, KLM COO. A statement released yesterday. “These flights are extra special in KLM's history. We have had a strong relationship with Australia since 1950, as the country has been a valuable destination in our network for over 50 years. It is now the first time in 20 years that another KLM aircraft lands at Sydney Airport. ”
KLM have always wanted to fly to Australia since before the Second World War. Despite the airline proving that they could cover such a distance safety with the London-Melbourne race in 1934, they unfortunately didn't get landing rights.
On the 7th of December 1950, KLM's DC-4 took off from Schiphol Airport bound for Sydney. However, getting there wasn't as straight forward as today. The trip took three and a half days with five stops in-between. Amsterdam via Cairo, Karachi, Bangkok, Singapore and Darwin before touching down in Sydney, Australia. This continued for 50 years until the airline expanded their partnership with the Malaysian Air System, now called Malaysia Airlines. They expanded their flights to Kuala Lumpur which provided connecting flights to multiple destinations in Australia and New Zealand. In October 2018, KLM got codeshare agreements with the Australian airline, Qantas.
According to KLM, any passenger who would like to register as eligible for one of these repatriation flights should register on the website www.bijzonderebijstandbuitenland.nl. The necessary air transport for the return trip will be coordinated and organised by emergency centres.
Comments