According to the agreement, pilots will work one extra day extra every month in the summer season of 2026. They also have to work an extra weekend day every quarter. With that, KLM expects to be able to carry out tens of thousands of flights extra, and to transport millions of extra passengers.
“We are seeing the need to put their shoulders to it now,” says VNV chairman Ruud Stegers in a press release On the website of the trade union. “With this agreement, the pilots contribute to a healthy KLM, and KLM shows with these agreements that she finds the role and deployment of the pilots important and know how to appreciate it.”
Travel once a year with a discount
To compensate pilots for the sacrifice they make, KLM structurally makes the discount scheme for pilots. Every pilot can fly to a destination of your choice once a year with his own employer.
Agreements have also been made in the field of training. For example, (simulator) training courses are now offered in the weekends, so that pilots can be used more flexibly. KLM’s new Airbus 350 aircraft also gets adapted beds in the rest room, so that relatively long Dutch pilots can stretch comfortably.
KLM emphasizes that the thousands of extra flights are necessary to be again to become financially healthy. Earlier, considerable measures were also announced to achieve that goal.
“Moreover, we show that we come to solutions at the negotiating table together that are good for colleagues and good for KLM. We want this too all other colleagues can be done as quickly as possible. “