KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is adding international service to Amsterdam from MSP, providing Twin Cities' travelers a wider range of options, the airline announced this week.
Starting March 27, 2017, KLM will operate three roundtrips a week between Amsterdam and MSP, with flights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The seasonal KLM flights will run through October 2017.
The new KLM service complements existing flights to Amsterdam from MSP offered by Delta Air Lines. Delta flies the Amsterdam route three times a day from April to November, and two times per day in winter months.
Delta and KLM are members of a North Atlantic joint venture that also includes Air France and Alitalia. The code share agreement makes it easy for travelers flying to MSP on KLM to connect on Delta to other destinations.
"KLM's announcement builds on the significant increase in international flights MSP has seen in recent months," said Brian Ryks, executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP. "New service means more choices for travelers on both sides of the Atlantic – and opportunities to bring more visitors and related commerce to Minnesota."
KLM's previous service between Amsterdam and MSP ended in September 2001.
Resumption of the route shows the airline "is keeping up the pace of its network expansion," said Pieter Elbers, KLM's president and CEO.
Delta recently added service to Reykjavik from MSP, and is expanding seasonal service from MSP to Honolulu to run from November through August. The service had previously operated from November to March.
Additionally, Delta will start flying to Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Oct. 29, which is closer to Tokyo's city center than the Narita Airport, which is Delta's current Japan destination out of MSP.
Condor Airlines also announced recently that next year it will expand its service from MSP to Frankfurt to four flights a week from the current three a week, and Icelandair is making its seasonal service between MSP and Reykjavik year-round.
The KLM flights starting in March 2017 will depart Amsterdam at 9:35 a.m. Central European time and arrive in Minneapolis at 11:20 a.m. local time. The return flight will depart MSP at 2:50 p.m. local time and arrive in Amsterdam the next day at 5:50 a.m. Central European time.
KLM will fly an Airbus 330-200 on the route, with 18 World Business Class seats, 35 economy comfort seats and 214 seats in economy class.
