KLM in the 1980s
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – KLM (Royal Dutch Airline)
In 1980, KLM carried 9,715,069 passengers. In 1983, it reached an agreement with Boeing to convert ten of its Boeing 747-200 aircraft (Five 747-200Bs and five 747-200Ms) into Boeing 747-300s with the stretched-upper-deck modification.
The work started in 1984 at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, and finished in 1986. The converted aircraft were called Boeing 747-200SUD or 747-300, which the airline operated in addition to three newly built Boeing 747-300s manufactured from the ground up. In 1983, KLM took delivery of the first of ten Airbus A310 passenger jets.[9] Sergio Orlandini retired in 1987 and was succeeded as president of KLM by Jan de Soet.[25] In 1986, the Dutch government’s shareholding in KLM was reduced to 54.8 percent.[9] It was expected that this share would be further reduced during the decade.[9] The Boeing 747-400 was introduced into KLM’s fleet in June 1989 — WIKI
