A quarter of a million Dutch people who have traveled abroad with KLM have not yet returned. This is what KLM CEO Pieter Elbers said in the broadcast of Op1 on Wednesday evening.
The airline’s CEO does not know exactly how many Dutch people are still abroad, he can only give figures about the number of Dutch people who have booked with KLM. It is not known how many of the 250,000 people want to return to the Netherlands.
The airline is still in talks with the government about the possible use of special charter flights. Elbers emphasizes that KLM cannot fly to a country if the local authorities decide to close the airspace.
According to Elbers, KLM is doing everything it can to bring everyone back and recognizes that they are sometimes difficult to reach. “Normally we get 20,000 social media posts and 20,000 phone calls a day. Now there are 200,000 of each. What we want to say to our customers. If you bought a ticket for May, for example, please wait a while. Overload the system not.”
At the moment, a large part of the approximately two hundred KLM aircraft is grounded.
Travel organizations have not yet completed a plan for recalling Dutch people
Travel organizations’ plans for bringing Dutch people back from abroad are not yet complete, so it is not yet clear when they can return, a spokesperson for the General Dutch Association of Travel Companies (ANVR) told NU.nl on Wednesday.
According to the spokesperson, the duration of the repatriation depends on, among other things, how many flights are available. According to her, this can take “a few days to weeks”.
Abroad, there are currently 20,000 to 30,000 Dutch people who have booked their holiday through a tour operator affiliated with the ANVR. In total, three hundred organizations are affiliated with the travel umbrella organization.
According to the ANVR, the tour operator will contact the holidaymakers to inform them of how and when to return.
Follow the latest developments around the virus in our live blog.
The coronavirus in short
- The coronavirus mainly spreads through sneezes and cough drops. The virus can be transmitted directly from person to person or (for a limited time) through surfaces such as door handles.
- An infected person infects two to three others on average. Precautions are necessary to contain this.
- The vast majority of patients have mild (flu-like) complaints.
- Nearly all deaths involve the elderly or other frail, such as heart, lung or diabetes patients. If everyone complies with the measures, this reduces their risks.
- Read here what precautions you should take.
–
–
–
– .
