KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has just revealed plans to launch a new route to the United States, and it seems like a logical network addition…
KLM adds Amsterdam to San Diego route
As of May 8, 2025, KLM will launch a new year-round flight between Amsterdam (AMS) and San Diego (SAN). The flight will operate 3x weekly with the following schedule:
KL639 Amsterdam to San Diego departing 9:50AM arriving 12:00PM
KL640 San Diego to Amsterdam departing 1:55PM arriving 9:15AM (+1 day)
The 5,613-mile flight is blocked at 11hr10min westbound and 10hr20min eastbound. The flight will operate on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, in both directions.
KLM will use a Boeing 787-9 for the service, featuring 275 seats. This includes 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 225 economy class seats.
How San Diego fits into KLM’s route network
San Diego will be KLM’s 15th destination in the United States and 22nd destination in North America, so the carrier has quite the impressive network.
The logic for this new service is pretty obvious. Think of it as being less about KLM, and more about the overall Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic transatlantic joint venture, and its competitive position. With joint ventures, airlines coordinate their schedules to create as comprehensive of a network as possible.
Currently the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture doesn’t have a transatlantic flight to San Diego. Meanwhile the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture has Lufthansa’s service from Munich (MUC), while the oneworld transatlantic joint venture has British Airways’ service from London (LHR).
San Diego is a market that has grown considerably in the past decade, and it’s one of the largest unserved transatlantic markets for SkyTeam, so this is a logical addition. I assume that KLM operating this route rather than Air France or Virgin Atlantic comes down to aircraft availability, opportunity cost, and general network connectivity.
Bottom line
As of May 2025, KLM will launch a new 3x weekly flight between Amsterdam and San Diego using a Boeing 787. This will be KLM’s 22nd destination in North America, and this is clearly a competitive response of the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture, given that Star Alliance and oneworld both have service to the airport.
What do you make of KLM adding service to San Diego?
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