London: Dutch national carrier KLM announced a boost in flights to London City airport and said it favours a “liberal” Brexit deal that would maintain maximum access for UK and continental airlines.

KLM has held talks with the Dutch government about the split and made clear the importance of safeguarding UK operations, Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers said Wednesday. Britain is the carrier’s second-biggest market with 6 million seats, on flights to 17 airports including London City, where it is doubling frequencies to eight a day.

“The delicate balance we need to find here is how we keep the European philosophy alive and yet not create a situation which is going to be bad for business,” Elbers said in London. Discussions with Dutch authorities include “mapping what could be possible scenarios and possible ways to go forward.”

Elbers, whose company is a unit of Paris-based Air France-KLM Group, said that while there is a “goal of best possible access to European markets,” the key issue concerns the legal structures involved and whether Britain will join the European Common Aviation Area or resort to bilateral agreements of the type it last had with the Netherlands in the 1960s.

Pragmatic

The CEO said that Britain had played a valuable role in securing European air-services agreements with outside countries and in pushing for reforms such as the Single European Sky air-navigation area, and would therefore be missed as a “straightforward, pragmatic” partner. For that reason, he said, Brexit is something “not very much welcomed” by KLM.

Britain is especially important to the carrier because of it transports passengers from around the world via Amsterdam Schiphol, with 80 per cent of the carrier’s customers being non-Dutch. It also has more connecting flights from the UK provinces than British Airways, whose London Heathrow base is served by a limited number of shuttle services from northern Britain.

Daily flights to London City will double from four starting May 15, KLM said in a statement, as the carrier’s Cityhopper arm leases two BAE Systems RJ85 regional planes from Ireland’s CityJet to supplement its own service using Embraer 190s. KLM resumed City flights in February after eight years.

The impact of last year’s Brexit vote on UK demand has been limited with only a “marginal” reduction in the number of British travellers, Elbers said. New routes are performing well and others are planned.

Air France concern

KLM understands the concerns that workers and politicians have expressed about the unit’s position within Air France-KLM, Elbers said in an interview at the UK Aviation Club, adding that its “relevance and importance” within the Dutch economy is “enormous,” supporting 260,000 jobs.

The Dutch arm lifted its passenger tally by 1.8 million people, or 6.4 per cent, last year, even as numbers fell at Air France, where strikes prompted the jettisoning of planned cost cuts and led group CEO Alexandre de Juniac to quit.

Air France’s unions have attracted the ire of KLM counterparts, angry at the impact of walkouts on a group formed via a merger in 2004. The concerns entered the political arena when Dutch ministers warned new chief Jean-Marc Janaillac not to pander to the French pilots at the expense of growth at KLM.

“I understand these concerns and I think it’s up to us as management to find a good balance in addressing them,” Elbers said. “These are concerns we should take very seriously.” KLM has had “a couple of discussions” about the situation with both government and Air France-KLM, he said.

At the same time, KLM is happy with its status within the group and hasn’t been hampered in its ability to add new routes or planes, the executive said.