Air France (AF, Paris CDG) has deployed pilots to sister carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for four months on flights between Amsterdam Schiphol and New York JFK, marking the first time Air France pilots and KLM cabin crew jointly operate KLM flights.
The collaboration began on July 16, with Air France pilots flying a KLM B777-200 from Schiphol to JFK as Flight KL641. The arrangement will continue until the end of the IATA summer schedule on October 25.
In a statement, KLM said the move is intended to help it maintain its scheduled summer operations by leveraging capacity across the Air France-KLM group. One aircraft on the transatlantic route will be crewed by Air France pilots and KLM cabin staff throughout the duration of the agreement.
"This collaboration will help KLM to operate its scheduled flights this summer. It supplements our capacity this summer, which is good for KLM as a whole," commented KLM COO Maarten Stienen.
The airline said the partnership follows months of coordination between the two carriers, with input from unions, aviation authorities, and other internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance and smooth operations.
Last October, KLM Cityhopper (WA, Amsterdam Schiphol) managing director Maarten Koopmans told ch-aviation that KLM was seeking to "rebalance" its allocation of pilots since the pandemic, pointing to the need for "a lot of pilots for the intercontinental fleet". This had partly involved the transfer and retraining of pilots within the company, from regional to widebody aircraft.
