Dutch airline KLM is set to launch its own holiday package deal brand in the Netherlands, as it aims to benefit from a revival of tourism once countries overcome the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dutch arm of airline group Air France-KLM has said it has bought a significant share in Airtrade, which is a specialist in tourist package deals and airline ticket consolidation.
Through this acquisition, for which no financial details have been disclosed, it aims to launch 'KLM Holidays', to give its existing business offering tourist package deals a boost.
"We want to be among the top three tour operators for flight holidays", KLM Netherlands director Harm Kreulen told the Telegraaf newspaper.
Losses
Last week, KLM recorded an operating loss of €152 million for the last three months of 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis continued to cripple air travel.
Lockdowns led to an overall net loss of €7.1 billion euros for the French-Dutch airline group last year, and are likely to drive it into loss for 2021 as well.
KLM has said that it expects tourism to pick up faster than business travel once travel restrictions are lifted.
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