NETHERLANDS: KLM Opens First Part Of New Crown Lounge

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines opened the first part of the new KLM non-Schengen Crown Lounge at Schiphol for its customers. The lounge now boasts a completely new setup and ambience. The primary point of departure here is the ultimate customer experience.

The lounge features the latest technologies and innovations, along with top-notch service and catering provisions. Customers can already take advantage of this in a temporary setup.

Refurbishment of the second part of the lounge continues until its festive opening in summer 2019, the year in which KLM will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The international KLM Crown Lounge is located between the E and F Piers at Schiphol. The lounge caters to KLM’s most important customers travelling on intercontinental flights. The lounge is easy to find thanks to its new impressive entrance on the Holland Boulevard.

Customers can access the lounge by escalator or elevator, are welcomed individually by personal lounge assistance and can gain easy access by scanning their boarding passes at the self-service devices.

The lounge facilities are located on the second floor and on the completely rejuvenate third floor.

KLM aims to offer the most attractive lounge in the world; a destination in itself. The new lounge concept ties in seamlessly with KLM’s strategy, centring on providing the ultimate hospitality experience, innovation and perfect customer service.

The renovated lounge offers KLM a unique opportunity to breathe new life into its long-standing relations with existing customers, and to attract and welcome new customers. We have also started reconstructing the second part of the lounge.

Following its festive opening in summer 2019, the KLM Non-Schengen Crown Lounge will be completely ready to provide customers with an exceptional, memorable experience.

Taken together, the new food & drink concepts, kitchen layout, logistics, digital innovations including self-service access and rejuvenated service provided by lounge staff all contribute towards an entirely personal experience. In so doing, KLM has created the lounge of the future.

The new decor of the KLM non-Schengen Crown Lounge focuses on providing customers with a completely new experience. To this end, KLM has set up different zones to satisfy the diverse wishes and requirements of its customers: work, relaxation, food & drink, entertainment and fine dining.

Capacity has also been expanded in order to accommodate anticipated growth in the number of intercontinental lounge visitors in the future. Once renovated completely, the lounge will offer around 1,500 seats in comparison with the previous 800 and will boast a surface area of 6,800 m2 compared to 3,600 m2 now.

The “Polder” zone opened, with a temporary setup offering extra seats – and therefore greater capacity – until the renovation process concludes in summer 2019. As of today, customers can already enjoy the Dutch Mountain for entertainment, and the new Sky zone bar on the third floor.


Tourism Observer

NETHERLANDS: TUI Plane To Dominican Republic Grounded After It Was Discovered Leaking

A Boeing Dreamliner's leaking fuel tank grounded a TUI flight from Schiphol to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica early this year.

The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate launched an investigation, as this is not the first Dreamliner to have fuel tank problems, AD reports.

The incident happened on January 19th. Shortly before departure from Schiphol, it was discovered that the Dreamliner was dripping kerosene. The passengers were already on the plane, preparing for takeoff.

The TUI crew immediately turned the engines off and passengers disembarked.

At no time was there any danger for the passengers and crew, Petra Kok of TUI said.

Safety in the air is our greatest priority. In the end it turned out to be a relatively innocent defect, but we did not know that beforehand and safety takes precedence over punctuality.

The fuel tank was emptied and an extensive inspection took place.

According to TUI, the leak was caused by a production error at Boeing.

Despite it being a small defect, it took so long to fix that TUI eventually contracted another aircraft to fly affected passengers to their destination the next morning. They spent the night in a hotel near Schiphol.

The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate launched an investigation into the leaking Dreamliner. The Inspectorate would not tell AD whether other Dreamliners will be inspected for leaks.

Boeing is also investigating the incident. The company would not comment on the incident with the TUI plane, or say whether other Dreamliners experienced similar problems.

This is not the first time a Dreamliner fuel tank leaks, AD reports.

In 2012 the United States aviation authority FAA launched an investigation into production faults in Dreamliner tanks after two previous leaks.

In 2013 a Boeing Dreamliner 787 lost more than 150 liters of fuel just before takeoff in Boston. And in 2014 a Norwegian Air Dreamliner was grounded in Bangkok due to a fuel leak.

In that case the fuel cap turned out to be the problem.



Tourism Observer