KLM Royal Dutch Airlines welcomes 1st Airbus A350-900
After a flight of almost 1,5 hours from Toulouse-Blagnac, KLM's first Airbus A350-900 touched down at Schiphol on 2 October 2026. Registered PH-ZNA (809), the aircraft was greeted by a welcome ceremony including the traditional water-salute by the airport's fire brigade.
The A350 is the first of 22 the airline has gotten allocated of the 99 A350s Air France-KLM (both passenger-aircraft and freighters) has ordered in total with Airbus. The airline group also holds purchase rights for another 40 aircraft.
Within the KLM-fleet, the A350-900 will be used to replace its older fleet of Airbus A330s and Boeing B777-200ERs.
On 3 October 2026, KLM will begin crew familiarisation flights with its new aircraft by deploying it on two round-trips from Amsterdam to Stavanger. In a few weeks, the A350 is set to be used on flights to Toronto. The other destinations the aircraft is planned for in the upcoming Winter 2026-schedule are Montreal, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Zanzibar.
KLM's second A350-900 is scheduled to be delivered later this year, with a third following early next year.
The widebody-fleet of KLM is currently made-up of five A330-200s, five A330-300s, fifteen B777-200ERs, sixteen B777-300ERs, thirteen B787-9s, and fifteen B787-10s.
