India is more important than any other market : KLM CEO Marjan Rintel

KLM is part of the Air France-KLM group and operates to Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai

India is more important for KLM than any other market and the airline is expanding to capitalise on growing demand for trade and travel, chief executive officer Marjan Rintel said on Monday.

“We are here for the past seventy years. Indian market is huge and growing. We are opening a new route from Amsterdam to Hyderabad in September. Our code share partnership with IndiGo will help us to grow the market further,” Rintel said.

KLM is part of the Air France-KLM group and operates to Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. Along with its partner Delta Airlines, it offers connections to multiple destinations in the US and competes with other European and West Asian airlines.

The expanded partnership with IndiGo will give the Indian airline more access to European and US destinations and help KLM grow it’s market share in India.

Along side, the Amsterdam-based airline also has a long standing partnership with Tata Consultancy Services which is building cloud, data and digital solutions for the Dutch airlines.

Rintel’s confidence in India is based on several factors – a rise in outbound travel, immigration from India and the requirement for labour in Europe, all of which contribute to air travel demand. Besides India’s strength in information technology and development of global capability centres are other positive factors.

“Indian market is more important than any other and that’s why we are expanding here,” Rintel said. 

Air France increased its frequencies to Delhi from seven to ten per week in the preceding winter season and intends to expand its capacity too.

While KLM has seen demand cooling off on US-India routes in the economy cabins in recent weeks due to uncertainty caused by visa and tariff announcements, business and premium traffic is doing well.

“On India to US routes demand is holding very well,” she said.

Published on June 3, 2025