The industry has had many ups and downs since KLM’s inception, including suspended flights due to World War II and the jet plane boom between the 1960s and 1980s. But KLM has managed to weather the storms. In 2004 it was acquired by Air France to create the Air France KLM Group. With a fleet of more than 550 aircraft and nearly 100 million annual passengers, the group takes up a larger chunk of Europe’s air traffic than any other.

Now discover how air travel has changed in every decade from the 1920s to today

The world's most historic airlines still flying