Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch
low-cost airline
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
and a wholly owned subsidiary of
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 ...
and therefore part of the
Air France–KLM
Air France–KLM S.A., also known as Air France–KLM Group, is a Franco-Dutch airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. The group has offices in ...
group. Its main base is
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and it has other bases at
Rotterdam The Hague Airport
Rotterdam The Hague Airport (formerly ''Rotterdam Airport'', ''Vliegveld Zestienhoven'' in Dutch), is a minor international airport serving Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second largest city, and The Hague, its administrative and royal capital. I ...
and
Eindhoven Airport
Eindhoven Airport is an airport located west of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In terms of the number of served passengers it is the second largest airport in the Netherlands, with 6.2 million passengers in 2018 (well behind Schiphol, which serves m ...
. Transavia maintains
Transavia France
Transavia Airlines S.A.S., trading as Transavia France and formerly branded as ''transavia.com France'', is a French low-cost airline owned by Air France S.A. & Transavia Airlines C.V. based at Paris-Orly Airport. It shares its corporate desig ...
as its
French subsidiary.
History
Early years
The first brainstorming sessions about starting a second
charter company in the Netherlands, after
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 o ...
, started in spring 1966, when the American
Chalmers Goodlin
Chalmers Hubert "Slick" Goodlin (January 2, 1923 – October 20, 2005) was the second test pilot of the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane, and the first to operate the craft in powered flight. He was the pilot of the project's second plane, an ...
met with captain Pete Holmes. "Slick" Goodlin had recently bought the dormant small company Transavia Limburg, based in
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
, which had three
DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...
's available. The Dutch government needed to be approached in order to obtain an operating license for the airline, both in order to be allowed to operate out of Amsterdam Airport, and for these DC-6s.
At that stage
John Block, a former member of the
Martinair Holland
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 o ...
management, was willing to take that on. He succeeded, the license was issued on 14 November 1966 and two days later on 16 November 1966 the airline's first commercial flight – Amsterdam/Naples/Amsterdam – was completed; flown by Captain Pete Holmes, on board were the Dutch Ballet Orchestra and the
Dutch Dance Theatre. This was the first flight with the new name of Transavia Holland.
The company found offices at the old Schiphol Airport, Hangar 7 and the fledgling's financier Slick Goodlin appointed the three-pronged management: Commercial Director J.N. Block, Director Operations H.G. Holmes, and Technical Director Kees de Blok. Some of the first employees were pilots John Schurman (Canadian), Hans Steinbacher & Pim Sierks (Dutch), Chief Stewardess Willy Holmes-Spoelder and her stewardesses: Senior Stewardess Wil Dammers and six carefully selected and trained young women.
The first of fourteen secondhand Sud Caravelle twin-jet airliners to be operated by Transavia was delivered in summer 1969 and the type remained in service with the airline until being displaced by further deliveries of Boeing 737s in 1976.
Development since the 1980s
Building up the airline from scratch, ten years later Transavia had a marketshare of 45% of the Dutch holiday market and became the main competitor 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 o ...
. In 1986, the Transavia Holland brand was changed into Transavia Airlines. It was the first airline to take advantage of the first
open skies agreement
The freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airlines the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace. They were formulated as a result of disagreements over the extent of aviation liberali ...
signed between the UK and Dutch governments. Transavia started operating its first scheduled service on the Amsterdam to
London Gatwick
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
route on 26 October 1986.
During 1991, the airline's major shareholder,
Nedlloyd
Nedlloyd was a Dutch shipping company, formed in 1970 as the result of a merger of several shipping lines:
*Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN)
*Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd (KRL)
*Koninklijke Java-China-Paketvaart-Lijnen (KJCPL)
*Vereen ...
, sold its 80% holding to KLM. In 1998, Transavia was the first foreign airline to operate domestic services in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
following a change in Greek aviation law. In June 2003, KLM acquired the remaining 20% of Transavia, making it 100% KLM owned. The subsequent merger of
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
and KLM made Transavia a wholly owned subsidiary of Air France-KLM.
In the early 2000s, Transavia was primarily a charter airline with a
low-cost airline
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
subsidiary called Basiq Air. To strengthen its brand image, the two were combined under the transavia.com domain name on 1 January 2005.
Transavia has a French unit,
Transavia France
Transavia Airlines S.A.S., trading as Transavia France and formerly branded as ''transavia.com France'', is a French low-cost airline owned by Air France S.A. & Transavia Airlines C.V. based at Paris-Orly Airport. It shares its corporate desig ...
, based at
Paris-Orly
Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...
, which also operates 737-800s. A Danish unit,
Transavia Denmark
Transavia Denmark ApS, also known as Transavia.com Denmark or Transavia Denmark and trading as transavia.com, was a Danish based low-cost airline operating as a subsidiary of Transavia group. Its main base was at Copenhagen Airport. Transavia D ...
, based at
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, operated from 2008 until April 2011 when it was shut down after failing to meet expectations.
A
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
was organised by Air France pilots in September 2014, in protest against the Air France-KLM group's increased focus on the development of Transavia, whose pilots were being paid less than those of Air France.
By early 2015, Transavia received a new
corporate design
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
dropping the ".com" from its public appearance and changed its primary colors from white/green/blue to white/green. The airline is now to be positioned as Air France-KLM's low-cost brand for the Netherlands and France.
In February 2017, Transavia announced that it would shut down its base at
Munich Airport
Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...
by late October 2017 after only a year of service due to a change in their business strategy and negative economic outlook.
[aero.de - "Transavia dissolves base in Munich"](_blank)
(German) 13 February 2017
In December 2019, Transavia announced the launch of its base at
Brussels Airport, initially operating nine routes from the airport.
In December 2021, after a delay due to the coronavirus, the base at Brussels Airport was opened. Transavia will station one aircraft at the Belgian airport.
Corporate affairs
Head office
![Martinair and Transavia offices Schiphol-Oost](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Martinair_and_Transavia_offices_Schiphol-Oost.JPG)
Transavia has its head office in the TransPort Building, Schiphol East,
[New visiting address Martinair Headquarters]
" Martinair. Retrieved on 16 February 2011. "Martinair’s head office will relocate to the new TransPort building at Schiphol East on Friday, June 4, 2010." and "Visiting address Martinair Holland N.V. Piet Guilonardweg 17 1117 EE Schiphol" on the grounds of
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,
Haarlemmermeer
Haarlemmermeer () is a municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The name Haarlemmermeer means 'Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of wate ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
[Visiting address and directions]
" Transavia.com. Retrieved on 7 February 2011. "Piet Guilonardweg 15: TransPort Building 1117 EE Schiphol Airport PO Box 7777, 1118 ZM Schiphol Airport (NL)." Transavia moved into the new building on 3 May 2010 with about 400 employees. Previously the head office was in the Building Triport III at Schiphol Airport.
Ownership and structure
Transavia Airlines C.V. is 100% owned by KLM, which in turn is owned by
Air France–KLM
Air France–KLM S.A., also known as Air France–KLM Group, is a Franco-Dutch airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. The group has offices in ...
; however Transavia is run as an independent operation. It holds a 4,49% interest in the French airline
Transavia France S.A.S (the remaining 95,51% is owned by Air France S.A.), which operates in the French market. Transavia France also operates under the brand name of transavia, with an identical business model, website, and image.
Business trends
The financials for both parts of the Transavia brand (Transavia Netherlands and Transavia France) are fully incorporated in the published annual accounts of their ultimate parent, Air France-KLM. Results reported for the Transavia brand are (figures for years ending 31 December):
Business model
Transavia operates as a
low-cost carrier, and as such uses a single aircraft type (
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
in their case) with a single class of cabin. The airline offers the "Selection on Board"
buy on board
Buy may refer to a trade, i.e., an exchange of goods and services via bartering or a monetary purchase.
The term may also refer to:
Places
* Buy (inhabited locality), any of several inhabited localities in Russia
* Burlington-Alamance Regional A ...
service offering food and drinks for purchase. Commencing 5 April 2011, Transavia introduced fees for hold luggage and changed the rules for hand luggage, with the maximum allowable weight for hand luggage increased from 5 kg to 10 kg.
Destinations
Fleet
![Transavia B737-800 (PH-HZE) @ MAN, April 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Transavia_B737-800_%28PH-HZE%29_%40_MAN%2C_April_2016.jpg)
Current fleet
, Transavia (excluding
Transavia France
Transavia Airlines S.A.S., trading as Transavia France and formerly branded as ''transavia.com France'', is a French low-cost airline owned by Air France S.A. & Transavia Airlines C.V. based at Paris-Orly Airport. It shares its corporate desig ...
) operates the following registered aircraft:
During the busy summer season, Transavia regularly leases additional 737 aircraft from
Sun Country Airlines, a US airline based in
Eagan, Minnesota
Eagan ( ) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota. It is south of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and the ...
. During the slower winter season, which corresponds to Sun Country's busy season, Sun Country leases several planes from Transavia. This reciprocal arrangement allows both airlines to balance their fleets to reflect seasonal demand. Transavia also leases services from different charter airlines during the peak summer season to operate flights on their behalf.
Historical fleet
Over the years, Transavia has operated the following aircraft types in its mainline fleet:
Additional aircraft types were part of the fleet in small numbers and only for short-term periods.
Accidents and incidents
No fatalities or complete loss of aircraft have occurred on Transavia flights. In 1997 two incidents occurred with substantial damage to the aircraft:
*On 8 February 1997, Transavia Airlines Flight 484, a
Boeing 737-300
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...
flying from
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
to
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 ...
, was damaged en route. The push/pull rod of the elevator broke off, damaging the
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
's rudder, and an emergency landing was made at
Nuremberg Airport
Nuremberg Airport , german: link=no, Albrecht Dürer Flughafen Nürnberg, is the international airport of the Franconian metropolitan area of Nuremberg and the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport. With about 4.1 million pass ...
. There were no fatalities, but the
FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
issued an
Airworthiness Directive
An Airworthiness Directive (commonly abbreviated as AD) is a notification to owners and operators of certified aircraft that a known safety deficiency with a particular model of aircraft, engine, avionics or other system exists and must be correct ...
after this and a similar incident.
*On 24 December 1997, Transavia Airlines Flight 462, a
Boeing 757-200 flying from
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...
to
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 ...
, was seriously damaged during landing. The aircraft landed in strong, gusty winds and touched down hard with its right
main gear first. On touchdown the nose gear doghouse collapsed, inflicting serious damage on some electrical and electronic systems and control cables. After sliding over the runway for approximately 3 km, the aircraft came to rest in the grass beside the runway. The plane was evacuated successfully, and no fatalities or serious injuries occurred.
[Incident details fro]
Aviation Safety.net website
visited 13 March 2021. The aircraft returned to service after repairs.
*On 6 September 2019, Transavia Airlines Flight 1041 attempted to take off from Taxiway D instead of Runway 18C at
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Airport controllers ordered the aircraft to stop immediately. No injuries were reported.
See also
*
Transavia Denmark
Transavia Denmark ApS, also known as Transavia.com Denmark or Transavia Denmark and trading as transavia.com, was a Danish based low-cost airline operating as a subsidiary of Transavia group. Its main base was at Copenhagen Airport. Transavia D ...
*
Transavia France
Transavia Airlines S.A.S., trading as Transavia France and formerly branded as ''transavia.com France'', is a French low-cost airline owned by Air France S.A. & Transavia Airlines C.V. based at Paris-Orly Airport. It shares its corporate desig ...
References
External links
*
{{Navboxes
, list =
{{Airlines of the Netherlands
{{European Low Fares Airline Association
Airlines of the Netherlands
Airlines established in 1965
Low-cost carriers
Air France–KLM
European Low Fares Airline Association
Dutch brands
Dutch companies established in 1965
Companies based in North Holland
Haarlemmermeer