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With the loss of approximately 90 percent of all flights between Europe and Asia, a major shortage of cargo capacity has arisen. At the same time, precisely because of the crisis surrounding COVID-19, there is an enormous need to be able to transport medical equipment and other supplies quickly between the US, Europe and China.
KLM has now joined forces with Philips and the Dutch government to create a temporary special cargo air bridge between the Netherlands and China for this purpose. Requests for additional capacity are also being received from many other parties. This airlift to Asia will start on April 13.
KLM will be returning the Boeing 6 combi to the operation between the Netherlands and China for this important cargo airlift over the next 8 to 747 weeks. This airlift provides a continuous flow of special cargo capacity; 2x a week to Beijing and 3x a week to Shanghai. This creates approximately 250 tonnes of extra freight capacity per direction per week.
The flights will operate alongside the existing services of the so-called 'skeleton timetable', which has been in effect since March 29 with 2x Beijing and 2x Shanghai, operated with the Boeing 787 and Boeing 777.
The KLM/Martinair Full Freighters will continue to operate on the North Atlantic routes, which Philips will use for an airlift from Amsterdam to distribution points in the US. The Full Freighters will also continue to fly South Atlantic routes and Africa.
In view of the current 90% drop in flights and the expectation for the future, KLM had decided at the beginning of March to phase out the remaining 747s as of April 2020 instead of the summer of 2021. Therefore, 2 Boeing 747s are now being used for this airlift. combi aircraft have been put back into use, specifically for these 2 routes and this period.
“I think it is extremely important that KLM can add value to Dutch society through flexibility, creativity and cooperation with other parties, especially in this time of crisis. Philips' initiative to find a solution together with KLM to free up freight capacity between Europe and China for necessary medical supplies is fully in line with this. It fills me with pride that we were able to set up this initiative so quickly with professional and committed employees from both companies.”
KLM President & CEO Pieter Elbers
“Philips and KLM have been important partners for over a hundred years. It is good that we have found each other again quickly in times of need to make this important airlift to China possible together. Combined with the existing airlift to the US, we can now move essential medical products and supplies more quickly between the US, Europe and China, helping healthcare providers more quickly in their difficult task of fighting the coronavirus.”
CEO Philips Frans van Houten