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KLM 2004 Summer Schedule Sees Growth in Asia

  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will launch services
to three new destinations this summer: Kristiansand, Riga and Tbilisi, while
the continuing introduction of KLM’s new Boeing 777-200ER will make it
possible to deploy larger aircraft on many existing routes.Total passenger capacity for the summer of 2004 has been set at 46 million
available seat kilometres, is 8% more than last summer. The summer schedule
begins on Sunday, March 28, and ends on Saturday, October 30, 2004.
The new scheduled services to Kristiansand will be operated daily with
Fokker 70 aircraft from March 28. Riga will be served twice daily from May
31, also with Fokker 70 aircraft.
An additional night flight will be operated to Barcelona, raising daily
frequency to six Boeing 737 roundtrips.
In the UK, capacity will be increased on flights to Norwich, Birmingham and
Newcastle.
Passenger capacity on routes to Asia in summer 2004 will be raised by 20% in
comparison with the same period last year. This results from the expansion
of aeropolitical rights and the recovery of traffic demand following the
SARS crisis.
KLM will operate daily service to Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this summer,
deploying the new Triple-7 on flights to Tokyo and Shanghai as well. Beijing
will be served solely using
Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
KLM will begin operating three weekly roundtrips to the Georgian capital
Tbilisi on June 15, 2004.
KLM and Northwest will raise frequency between the Amsterdam and
Minneapolis/St. Paul hubs from two to three daily services. The number of
weekly roundtrips to Houston, which serves as partner airline Continental’s
hub, will be raised from seven to nine.
Weekly frequency to San Francisco will be raised from six to seven.
Weekly frequency to Vancouver will be raised from five to seven.
Capacity will increase on KLM’s daily roundtrips to Toronto, with the
introduction of MD-11 aircraft.
KLM will raise flight frequency to Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles during
the summer schedule. During the peak season, Bonaire will be served eleven
times weekly, Curaçao seven times weekly, St. Maarten two times weekly, and
Aruba five times weekly.
Some of these services will be better aligned with connecting regional
services operated by BonairExel.
Weekly frequency to Lima will be raised from five to six roundtrips.

In co-operation with alliance partner Kenya Airways, KLM will raise capacity
on its hub-to-hub service between Amsterdam and Nairobi by replacing the
MD-11 with Boeing 777 aircraft.
Frequency to Cairo will be raised from five to six weekly roundtrips.

KLM reduced the number of flights to the Middle East in the summer of 2003,
owing to the war in Iraq. Traffic demand has begun to recover in this
region, prompting KLM to add a fifth weekly service to Teheran as well as to
Dammam/Doha.

During the summer of 2004, capacity for KLM Cargo will grow by 11%
year-on-year measured in available freight ton kilometres.

This growth also results from deployment of a third Boeing 747-400 ER
Freighter and introduction of the Boeing 777, which will serve to further
boost reliable cargo operations.
Deployment of the third freighter has enabled KLM Cargo to increase
frequencies to Hong Kong, Osaka, and Singapore/Malaysia. Starting March 28,
2004, KLM Cargo will increase frequency to Shanghai - in co-operation with
China Southern Cargo - from four to six flights weekly.
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