KLM Discovers It Pays to Cater to a Special Breed of Passenger

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines runs one of the best but least-known hotels at Schiphol airport. Instead of silken sheets or caviar, its pampered guests are offered beds of fresh hay and diets of dog biscuits.

This takes place at KLM Cargo’s unique animal hotel, which has housed some of the world’s most valuable creatures, from racehorses to rhinos, elephants and killer whales.

But of all the animal species which have passed through its portals over the years, KLM Cargo has developed a special expertise in flying and caring for horses.

KLM flies about 3,000 horses yearly and has been appointed the official carrier for the World Equestrian Games, scheduled for the Hague at the end of the month.

Piet Hamstra, KLM Cargo’s transport manager for live animals, said KLM has already flown in some international horse teams as the buildup to the games begins. This month, the equine population in the Netherlands will have swollen by 800 to 1,000 horses.

Many will arrive by road, as no trainer would willingly fly his horses when there is a traversable trailer route, Hamstra said.

But thousands of horses fly around the world every year and KLM, along with Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France, has become a specialist in what Hamstra said can be “a very lucrative business.”

Besides events like this year’s World Games, the horse business also has its own defined trade flows and its own specialist language in which Hamstra is expert.

“From the United States to Germany, Holland and Italy, we see flows of quarter horses. . . . Trotters are permanent features on routes into Scandinavia and there are always polos coming out of South America and Argentina particularly,” he said.

KLM Cargo was quick to move into the market when it first started booming in the early 1980s. It developed its own special horse box for long-haul flights and hired the specialist staff it needed to become a market leader.

Grooms (some 80% of whom are women, according to Hamstra) may travel with their horses. The KLM box has a special compartment where the groom stands up to comfort the horse. KLM is the only airline in the world that allows grooms to stand, without a seat belt, during takeoffs and landings, for the sake of the horse’s well-being.

“Care, care, care. That’s the most important factor. Horses are not cargo; they are passengers,” said Hamstra, adding that horses can experience the same fears and tensions experienced by many humans during flight.

“They need liquid and they need food. Just like you, when they are scared, they may want to drink a bit more than usual. We’ve come to know how to treat them, and they respond well to lots of care, some hay or perhaps an apple.”