On March 27, 2011 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will begin operating a scheduled service to Xiamen International Airport — making it the first airline to offer direct flights between Xiamen and Europe.

The announcement was made at a recent press conference in Xiamen, at which vice-mayor Pan Shijian of Xiamen and Peter Hartman, the president and CEO of KLM signed a co-operation agreement.

At the press conference Hartman pointed out that this is the seventh destination in China for KLM and gives the airline the largest destination portfolio for greater China (The Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) with 43 flights a week.

Xiamen is the second-largest city in the province of Fujian and has a population of three million inhabitants. Owing in part to its favourable geographical location, Xiamen is undergoing rapid economic growth and is attracting large international corporations. The city is also a tourist destination with interesting cultural and historical highlights.

The new service will be operated three times a week. Flight KL883 will depart from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, returning from Xiamen the following day. The return flight, KL884, will depart from Xiamen International Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, arriving in Amsterdam on the same day. Flights will be operated with Boeing 777-200ER equipment, which can seat up to 318 passengers: 35 in business class and 283 in economy class.

KLM’s SkyTeam partner China Southern Airlines offers connecting flights to and from Xiamen from a large number of destinations in China.