KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Thalys (the high-speed European rail operator) are to expand their AirRail partnership. The aim is to increase the number of passengers with connecting KLM flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol who travel from Brussels – and back – by train.
KLM has offered transfer passengers the option of boarding a Thalys high-speed train instead of a flight on the Brussels-Schiphol leg of their journey. This had good take-up pre-pandemic, with 20 to 25% of these passengers (some 36,000 customers) using this option.
However, both KLM and Thalys would like to see an increase in usage – so KLM is purchasing enough seats from Thalys to make this happen – making one of its daily services between Brussels and Schiphol redundant.
Seats are available on the following services:
- BRU-AMS: TH9357 daily except Saturdays, TH9351 on Saturdays
Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sun d. 16:52 a. 18:25; Sat d. 15:52 a. 17:25 - AMS-BRU: TH9376 daily except Saturdays, TH9382 on Saturdays
Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sun d. 17:34 a. 19:08; Sat d. 18:34 a. 20:08
You can book these seats on KLM.com for travel dates starting 17 July 2022.
Whilst the extra capacity is welcome, Transfer passengers have specific demands and the majority continue to opt for air-air transfer. That is why KLM and Thalys have decided to take the next step in developing their AirRail product.
But how are they going to achieve this? According to KLM and Thalys, various criteria need to be met:
- International trains must stop at Schiphol.
- Air and rail arrivals and departures must be coordinated.
- Airline and railway IT systems must be able to communicate with each other (e.g. for check-in, boarding, rebooking passengers in the event of disruption and so on).
- Railway baggage handling must also be integrated, with trains having secure baggage compartments and with efficient baggage transfer procedures at Schiphol to ensure speed and convenience.
- Passengers arriving at Schiphol by rail must have a separate transit route to the gate
Thalys already meets the first two criteria on the Schiphol-Brussels route.
In terms of system linking, KLM and Thalys have found a workaround for the seats that KLM purchases Thalys trains – and they are manually entered into KLM’s IT system.
This means that customers can check-in and receive boarding passes at Brussels-Midi/Zuid railway station for their entire journey, both rail and air. KLM updates and rebooks customers in the event of disruptions in both rail and air services. KLM also offers customers information on transfers and on how to prepare for their journey.
KLM and Thalys will ask their international customers to help them evaluate this temporary workaround.
In terms of baggage handling and luggage transfer, there is no solution as yet – this will take work from both KLM and Thalys.
In Quotes
Boet Kreiken – Executive Vice President Customer Experience, KLM:
KLM is committed to reducing the impact of its operations on our living environment. In addition to upgrading our fleet, replacing more jet fuel with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and improving our operational efficiency, we aim to reduce emissions by offering the train as an alternative to short-haul flights. Developing the AirRail product in partnership with Thalys is a step in the right direction, and linking our two networks at Schiphol for quick, efficient and convenient transfers is a positive move. Similar to our partnerships in the airline industry, our cooperation with Thalys reflects our commitment to intermodality.
Bertrand Gosselin, CEO, Thalys added:
Intermodality between air and rail plays an important role in achieving our growth ambitions. The extension of the cooperation with KLM fits perfectly with this ambition. Together we are creating a product that combines rail and intercontinental flights to meet our customers’ expectations of an environmentally friendly alternative.
Much more to the AirRail picture
It’s a welcome start to see more AirRail capacity being added between the Amsterdam-Brussels city pair. But there is so much more rail connectivity to be done – be it in routes, but also the seamlessness connectivity.
At the moment, that’s hampered to a point by manual data input – which requires a human. Sadly, humans make errors when inputting data.
It may require a booking system linkup to make this truly seamless, as well as to open up more destinations (for example Amsterdam – Paris North, Paris CDG), as well as stations on the Thalys network.
And there are always the connections onward from Amsterdam Schipol – with DB operating international services opening up connections to Frankfurt, Berlin and beyond.
It’s another good step to see as KLM addresses multi-modal travel – however, there are plenty of steps to go.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, featuring in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
