KLM Cityhopper is marking 60 years in operation, tracing its roots to the 1966 launch of Nederlandse Luchtvaart Maatschappij with two leased Fokker aircraft and a small domestic route map. Today, the Amsterdam Schiphol-based carrier sits at the centre of KLM’s European feeder network, linking short-haul destinations with the airline’s long-haul services and carrying about 11 million passengers a year.
The carrier’s evolution mirrors the build-out of KLM’s hub-and-spoke model in Amsterdam. The Cityhopper name was introduced a decade after NLM’s founding, before the operation was folded into the modern KLM Cityhopper structure through later mergers. KLM now describes the regional airline as a key part of its connectivity strategy, with more than 350 daily flights across over 80 destinations.
KLM Cityhopper operates a fleet of 58 aircraft and continues to add routes within Europe. Recent network additions include Biarritz, Exeter, Dubrovnik, Ljubljana, Cork, Jersey, Santiago de Compostela and Oviedo. The airline’s role remains centred on feeding traffic into Schiphol, where it supports connections to KLM’s intercontinental network.