John Nicolaas Block

Johan Nicolaas Block (May 18, 1929,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

– April 11, 1994) was a Dutch aviation pioneer. He was the co-founder of

Martinair Martinair (legally ''Martinair Holland N.V.'') is a Dutch cargo airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and a subsidiary of Air France–KLM. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder. Since 2011, Martinair has op ...

, founder of

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Schi ...

and

Air Holland Air Holland Charter B.V. was an airline based in the Netherlands. It operated passenger and cargo charters to Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean, as well as dry and wet leasing of aircraft to other airlines. It ceased operations on March 25, 200 ...

. John Block was born as the son of a schoolteacher in Amsterdam. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he applied for a job with

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

but wasn't hired. He joined the Dutch airforce and became an airforce pilot. After his service he briefly worked with a radio division of the Dutch postal services and obtained his commercial aviation licence. Together with

Martin Schröder Martin Schröder may refer to: * Martin Schröder (chemist) (born 1954), professor of inorganic chemistry * Martin Schröder (aviator) Johan Martin Schröder (born 13 May 1931 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch pilot and founder of Martinair, the second D ...

he founded Martinair. They introduced leisure travel by plane in the Netherlands. Block left the company in 1965 and shortly after bought the 'sleeping' airline Transavia Limburg which he renamed to Transavia. he built up the airline from scratch and ten years later Transavia had a marketshare of 45% of the Dutch holiday market. After a quarrel with some investors Block left Transavia in 1975. He went on and founded the small company Jetstar Holland BV in 1977. As such he introduced the use of executive jet travel in the Netherlands. He sold the company soon after to an investment holding and went back to the larger scheme: in 1984 he founded the airline Air Holland that went public in 1989. Block left Air Holland in 1991 and died in 1994. 1929 births 1994 deaths Dutch aviators Businesspeople from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch businesspeople {{Netherlands-business-bio-stub