History
The carrier was formed as NLM Nederlandse Luchtvaart Maatschappij in 1966. [2] Starting operations on 29 August 1966 using leased Fokker F27 aircraft from the Royal Dutch Air Force, it was set up as a KLM subsidiary under a two-year contract to operate domestic services within the Netherlands. [2] The airline saw the incorporation of the Fokker F28 in 1978. [3] : 1790 [4]
Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Maastricht, and Rotterdam comprised the airline's network at the beginning. [2] The Eindhoven–Hamburg route was the first international service flown by the airline; it was initially aimed at providing a scheduled executive service for Philips, and was made public in April 1974. [5] London-Gatwick was added to the network in early 1975. [6]
The airline changed its name to NLM CityHopper, following the acquisition of Netherlines by its parent company KLM in April 1988; operations of both subsidiaries were subsequently merged. [7] Despite sharing their operational structure, both companies were separate entities until 1 April 1991, when they were absorbed into the newly created KLM Cityhopper. [8]
