KLM has just announced that they’ll begin operating nonstop flights between Amsterdam and Las Vegas as of summer 2019. The route will launch on June 6 with 2x weekly flights (on Sundays and Thursdays), and as of July 2 the flight will be operated 3x weekly (with an additional service on Tuesdays).
This service will be flown with the following schedule:
KL635 Amsterdam to Las Vegas departing 12:30PM arriving 2:15PM
KL636 Las Vegas to Amsterdam departing 4:05PM arriving 11:05AM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of ~5,350 miles in each direction, and is blocked at 10hr eastbound and 10hr45min westbound.
KLM intends to use a Boeing 787-9 for the route, which is probably the best plane in their fleet in terms of the business class experience. KLM has reverse herringbone seats in business class on their 787s, so it’s an excellent product.
The 787-9 has a total of 294 seats, including 30 business class seats, 48 extra legroom economy seats, and 216 economy seats.
Las Vegas is seeing an increasing number of transatlantic flights, with seasonal or year-round service from British Airways, Condor, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Norwegian, Thomas Cook, and Virgin Atlantic. What’s interesting is that as you can see, most of the airlines flying there are leisure airlines, so Las Vegas getting a year-round full service network carrier is a significant development. This will also be the first SkyTeam airline to operate transatlantic flights out of Las Vegas (though Virgin Atlantic has a joint venture with Delta, but isn’t part of SkyTeam).
KLM’s other US destinations include Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Washington.
While the flight is already bookable, as of now I’m not seeing any saver level award availability. Hopefully that changes soon.
What do you make of KLM’s new route between Las Vegas and Amsterdam?
@Lucky, don't you think that they will face the same problem than Norwegian with the 787-9 during summer time ? Norwegian had to cancel the flights due to the heat and the weight of the aircraft
@Anthony:
You looking to set up a group tour? If so, I'm down. That's an awesome itinerary.
Lucky, you left out a few US destinations served by KLM. KLM also flies to Washington, DC (IAD) and soon Boston.
@Sam
There is. Condor from Frankfurt. I took it few times.
It has always surprised me that for many years, there wasn't a direct flight from Germany to LAS. Clearly the market is big and one had to connect in London or somewhere the USA. Now Eurowings has an year round service from MUC and soon from DUS too.
I'd have expected the AF/KLM flight to be operated by low cost Joon and not a premium 787-9 from KLM. Either way, great news.
Summer Vacation 2019
JFK to LAS (B6 Mint or Delta) - Four nights in LAS
LAS to AMS (KLM) - Three nights in AMS
AMS to IBZ (KLM or low cost European airline) - Two nights in IBZ
IBZ to BCN (Iberia) - Three nights in BCN
BCN to CTG (Avianca) - Four nights in CTG
CTG to JFK (B6)
Post from Lucky on March 21, 2020: KLM cancels flights to Las Vegas in the depths of global recession.
@Lucky KLM also provides service to IAD