NEWS
Multi-million pound eff ort follows announcement of Liverpool-Amsterdam service
KLM launches major
media ad campaign
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@rbi.co.uk
KLM launched a major TV and
newspaper advertising campaign
on Thursday after announcing
it will begin fl ights
from Liverpool to Amsterdam
in March.
The multi-million pound
campaign will stress the carrier’s
Dutch heritage and run
Europe-wide for seven weeks.
TV adverts will last for up
to a minute on Sky News and
Eurosport in what Air France-
KLM UK general manager
Christine Ourmieres described
as “a major event in a gloomy
environment”.
KLM marketing vice-president
Marc Lammens said: “In a
global downturn competition
becomes intense. It is crucial
brands engage with customers.”
12 | Travel Weekly | November 7 2008
KLM will begin fl ying from Liverpool to Amsterdam in March
The campaign will mark the
start of a four-year marketing
focus on customers’ needs.
Ourmieres said there was
no contradiction in stressing
the Dutch-ness of KLM alongside
its merger partner Air
France. The pair combined as
Air France-KLM in 2004.
“We have not invested
enough in the KLM brand in
the past,” she said. “We have
one group but two brands,
each with its own profi le. The
campaign will stress KLM’s
openness and friendliness. Air
France is a touch more sophisticated
and gastronomic.”
KLM will begin a threetimes-daily
service from Liver-
pool to Amsterdam Schiphol at
the end of March using an
80-seat Fokker jet – expanding
the carrier’s network to a
15th UK airport at a time when
some carriers are cutting regional
services.
Ourmieres said: “It confi rms
our UK operation as the backbone
of KLM’s network. The
services will connect to 100
destinations, with an average
connection time of one hour.”
She dismissed concern of a
downturn hitting demand from
Liverpool, saying: “We have
confi dence in the city’s future.
We expect a signifi cant fl ow of
traffi c to Asia from the ethnic
Chinese community and the
University of Liverpool.”
For daily news go to
www.travelweekly.co.uk
Norwegian Air Shuttle
moves to Copenhagen
Oslo-based Norwegian Air Shuttle has
moved to open a base in Copenhagen
and replaced some of the programme
fl own by failed carrier Sterling Airlines,
which fi led for bankruptcy last month.
Services were due to begin this
week. However, the carrier will not begin
fl ying between the UK and Copenhagen
until it acquires more aircraft.
Norwegian Air Shuttle currently operates
from Stansted to Oslo, Trondheim
and Tromso in Norway, Gatwick
to Stavanger and Edinburgh to Oslo.
It has a fl eet of 41 aircraft and is the
fourth largest no-frills airline in Europe.
Norwegian Air was a partner of Sterling
and promised to honour bookings
made with it for Sterling fl ights when
the latter collapsed on October 29.
It aims to have up to 10 aircraft
Downturn
led to LAX
route cut
Air France-KLM has confi rmed
it cancelled its daily Heathrow-
Los Angeles service because of
the downturn.
The service was axed from
October 26 after operating daily
since the end of March when a
US-European Union open-skies
agreement removed restrictions
on transatlantic fl ights.
The deal was hailed as
bringing new services and reduced
fares and Air France-
KLM became the fi rst European
carrier to take advantage
when it launched the Los Angeles
services from Heathrow.
However, UK general manager
Christine Ourmieres told
Travel Weekly: “The service
was not economic.”
The carrier plans to replace
it by fl ying daily from Heathrow
to New York next summer,
giving itself and partner Delta
Air Lines a third daily service.
But Ourmieres said the launch
date remains undecided. “It is
a diffi cult time for airlines,”
she said.
based at Copenhagen by next May and
will seek to take over some of the failed
carrier’s fl eet. But it will begin operations
at the airport with two aircraft.
Icelandic-owned Sterling Airlines
was based in Copenhagen. It collapsed
in the fallout from the fi nancial meltdown
in Iceland.
Norwegian
Air Shuttle
is now the
fourth largest
no-frills
carrier in
Europe
www.travelweekly.co.uk
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