KLM Reino Unido

Cuando, hacia finales de la década de 1980, Air UK comenzó a aumentar significativamente su presencia en el aeropuerto Schiphol de Ámsterdam, era inevitable que la aerolínea de bandera holandesa KLM mostrara interés ^{[ 1 ]} . Esto se materializó inicialmente en la adquisición de una participación del 14,9% en la aerolínea británica (en 1987), que se elevó al 45% más tarde ^{[ 2 ]} . Finalmente, en julio de 1997, KLM compró las acciones restantes, convirtiendo a Air UK en una filial de propiedad total. Los departamentos de marketing de ambas aerolíneas ya se habían integrado en abril de 1996 y, a partir del 1 de enero de 1998, el nombre comercial de la aerolínea cambió a KLM uk ^{[ 3 ]} .

KLM uk was the largest foreign user of Schiphol with over 750 movements each week, carrying around 2m passengers annually. London-Stansted operations under the new title commenced on January 16, 1998, with a mixed fleet of BAe 146 and Fokker equipment serving 14 domestic and 9 European destinations^[4]. In December of that same year, deliveries of four ATR-72 aircraft commenced, to replace the Fokker 50 equipment. Flights from London-City were code-shared with Cityjet. At its peak, in 1998, KLM uk carried 4.8m passengers network-wide and was the UK’s third largest carrier^[5].

In late 1999 the air carrier began to concentrate on services from 15 key UK regional airports into Amsterdam. Six international and domestic routes had been dropped by the spring of 2000, including all services to the Channel Islands, thus rendering the small ATR-72 fleet surplus to requirements^[6]. Internal reorganisation led to the amalgamation of KLM uk with Dutch KLM Cityhopper to form KLM Cityhopper UK Ltd. as of November 1, 2002^[7]. Thereafter, further rationalisation led to the last vestiges of the old Air UK being eliminated with yet another change of name to KLM Cityhopper N.V. on March 30, 2003, and the progressive transfer of the fleet to Dutch registry^[8].