There’s About to Be a New Way to Get to Amsterdam Nonstop From the West Coast

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will launch a new flight between Portland, Oregon, and Amsterdam in October, replacing a flight from partner Delta Air Lines between the two cities.

The new KLM flight will operate year-round on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft between Portland International Airport (PDX) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), KLM shared with Travel + Leisure. The new route launches on October 27 and will represent KLM’s 21st city in North America.

“The service provides passengers of Portland convenient connections to KLM’s extensive network across Europe and beyond,” Boaz Hulsman, the vice president of commercial for North America at Air France-KLM, told T+L, adding the flight expands “KLM’s transatlantic network and [reaffirms] our commitment to connecting people and places.”

In the winter, the flight from Portland will operate three times each week on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. That will increase to five times each week in the summer on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Each flight will include 30 World Business class seats, 21 Premium Comfort class seats, and 224 economy seats.

Beyond Amsterdam, travelers in Portland can fly direct to several other cities in Europe, including Frankfurt, Iceland, and London.

These new flights will replace a Delta flight that operated between the two cities. The Delta flight will end on Oct. 25, two days before the KLM flight takes off, KLM confirmed to T+L.

A representative for Delta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from T+L.

As part of the SkyTeam Alliance, KLM and Delta are partners, allowing members of each airline’s loyalty program to reap the benefits of their elite status when flying.

For its part, KLM holds the impressive title as the world’s oldest airline still operating under its original name (it turned 100 in 2019) and still offers old-school perks like gifting travelers in business class Delft Blue miniature houses filled with Dutch gin, a tradition since the 1950s.