History of aviation – October 7, 1919. The world of aviation welcomed a new airline on this Tuesday, October 7, 1919: in fact, the family grew with the birth on this day of a new company whose statutes were filed by Albert Plesman , namely the Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, a name that can be translated into French as “Royal Aviation Company”. On September 12, 1919, Queen Wilhelmina agreed that the word “royal” could be part of the name of this Dutch company, which is better known by its abbreviation KLM.
It was in The Hague that the company’s first office opened on October 21, 1919, even though it was in Amsterdam that it was based. Still in business today, the more than a century-old company has the particularity of having kept the same name since its birth and of course of displaying considerable longevity…
In the spring of 1920, the company’s very first flight took place, aviator Jerry Shaw providing the link between Schiphol and London, but with an aircraft belonging to the British company ATT. KLM does not yet have a fleet and therefore had to rent this De Havilland DH-16 to carry out this inaugural flight.
