Air France has deployed pilots to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for four months, marking the first collaboration where Air France pilots operate KLM flights. The initiative began on 16 July, with Air France pilots flying a KLM B777-200 from Schiphol to JFK as Flight KL641, continuing until 25 October.
KLM stated that this collaboration helps maintain scheduled summer operations by leveraging capacity across the Air France-KLM group. A single aircraft on the transatlantic route will be crewed by Air France pilots and KLM cabin staff for the duration of the agreement.
KLM COO Maarten Stienen mentioned that the collaboration is beneficial for KLM as it supplements the airline’s capacity during the summer.Maarten Stienen shared, “This collaboration will help KLM to operate its scheduled flights this summer. KLM was seeking to rebalance its allocation of pilots since the pandemic. This involved the transfer and retraining of pilots within the company. It supplements our capacity this summer, which is good for KLM as a whole. The partnership follows months of coordination between the two carriers.”
