According to KLM, a trial that was started last summer will be expanded from the end of March. The company has been working for some time with the Belgian train service to stimulate the number of transfers from train to flight and vice versa.
The airline also hopes to limit the number of flights between the two cities. KLM currently still operates about four daily flights between Amsterdam and Brussels, a distance of more than 200 kilometres.
Replace a flight
Last summer there were five more. “One flight has already been replaced by the train,” says spokesperson Caroline van der Veeken. Ultimately, those flights will have to be reduced even further thanks to the purchase of train capacity, although it is unclear when and to what extent this will succeed.
“Of course we don’t know how many passengers find it an attractive alternative,” says Veeken. According to the spokesperson, capacity has now been purchased on eight additional trains, but she cannot say exactly how many seats are involved.
Total picture
Ultimately, the carriers want to offer the traveler a total picture of train and air travel in one, including a smooth transfer from the train to the plane or vice versa. Bookings can be made directly with KLM. There are no additional costs for the traveler per se, says the company.
“We don’t make any money from it,” says Veeken. The plans are part of a broader collaboration between, among others, KLM, NS and the Dutch government and the so-called Action Agenda Train and Aviation. The ultimate goal is to limit short-haul flights, to promote the train and to encourage more sustainable aviation.
Paris and Berlin
The ultimate aim is to use the train for more transfers. Paris, London, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin are also on the schedule in addition to Brussels. It is not known when this will start.
Before the flights can be replaced by the train, a number of obstacles must be removed, says KLM. For example, the transfer from plane to train at Schiphol must be ‘easy’ and customers must be better helped with their luggage.
Society also believes that communication must be improved. Travelers outside Europe are often not familiar with the Thalys and should be made aware of the possibilities.
