So the head office – and part of the staff – moved to Amstelveen. But not everyone was happy with the move. “For the first few years there was a staff bus that helped people get to Amstelveen,” Wunderink remembers.
The love between KLM and Amstelveen now seems to have cooled somewhat. The company has been planning for years to leave the municipality and locate even closer to the airport, at Schiphol-Oost. Due to some difficult financial years, that plan has been put on hold.
These moving plans made Romy wonder whether the bond between the two is still as strong as it once was. “I thought it was an educational project,” she says. “I studied aeronautical engineering, but now I was able to delve more into history and talk to experts.”
KLM not enthusiastic
Her search was not easy. This was mainly because KLM itself was not eager to cooperate. “They were not enthusiastic. For example, I wanted to visit the head office, but that was not possible.”
Her nicest discovery while making the series was that an Amstelveen country house is included in the collection of KLM houses: Wester-Amstel “I was able to speak with Søren Ludvig Movig, the manager. He used to come there often, because his grandfather and grandmother lived there.” There appears to be an interesting story behind Wester-Amstel, which you will see more about in episode 2.