AIR FRANCE KLM toasts increase in market share with special dram from Aberdeenshire distillery

AIR FRANCE KLM Group is market leader in Scotland, flying over 1.2 million passengers last year. To celebrate this, KLM – de facto carrier of Scotland – has teamed up with one of the intrinsic elements of Scottish culture, a Scottish whisky distillery, to pick its own cask of single malt whisky.

Following a strong increase in market share over the past year, the Air France KLM Group now transports 1 in 4 long-haul passengers.

KLM recently expanded their Scottish service by adding Inverness to its Scottish network following a new partnership with Flybe. Air France KLM now offers up to 38 flights a day from its five airports in Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

To reaffirm KLM’s commitment to serving the needs of Aberdeen and Grampian’s business community, the airline teamed up with local Aberdeenshire distillery, Glen Garioch, to pick its own cask of single malt whisky.

Senior KLM staff visited the Glen Garioch distillery earlier this year to hand-select a non-chill filtered single malt preserved at cask strength from North American oak, which has been quietly maturing at the distillery since 1998. It was specifically chosen by KLM for its sweet roasted almond notes mixed with intense dark chocolate and wood spice, finished with smooth and creamy hints of vanilla and coconut. Bottles of the single malt will be distributed to business and leisure customers.

Henri Hourcade, General Manager of Air France KLM, UK and Ireland, said:

“To highlight KLM’s commitment to Scotland, we have teamed up with Glen Garioch, where staff from KLM picked its own cask of single malt. Investing in local businesses and people is important to KLM and we wanted to mark our continued success in Scotland by partnering with a distillery with such a rich history and beautiful whiskies.”

David Wilson, Sales and Marketing Director at Morrison Bowmore Distillers, said:

“We were delighted to team up with KLM to pick a cask at the Glen Garioch distillery earlier this year. The KLM staff picked an excellent 14-year-old with wonderful sweet roasted almond notes and a lovely smooth vanilla finish. This is sure to be an excellent dram to be enjoyed by KLM customers.”

Notes

Images of whisky launch at Aberdeen Airport attached. In picture 002 L-R: Gail McParlin, Air France KLM, Phil Nickson, Morrison Bowmore and Don Jacobs, BAA Aberdeen Commercial Director.

AIR FRANCE KLM, the result of a merger between AIR FRANCE and KLM in 2004, is one of the leading European air transport groups. Its main activities are the air transport of passengers and cargo as well as aircraft maintenance. In 2011, AIR FRANCE KLM carried 75.8 million passengers and 1.1 million tonnes of cargo. The group’s fleet comprises more 586 aircraft, including 173 regional aircraft operated by its partners Brit Air, City Jet, Regional and KLM Cityhopper. Its network covers 230 destinations in 113 countries from its hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol. The Flying Blue frequent flyer programme is leader in Europe and has over 20 million members.

With their partners Delta and Alitalia, AIR FRANCE and KLM operate the biggest transatlantic joint venture with more than 250 daily flights.

AIR FRANCE and KLM are members of the SkyTeam alliance which has 16 member airlines, offering customers access to a global network of over 14,700 daily flights to 958 destinations in 173 countries.

About Air France

Air France currently offers flights from 13 airports in the UK: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, London Heathrow, London City, Newcastle, Manchester and Southampton.

For more information on Air France, visit www.airfrance.co.uk or call 0871 66 33 777.

The AIR FRANCE KLM Group was voted Airline of the Year 2012 at the Business Travel Awards.

About KLM

KLM offers services from 16 airports in the UK: Aberdeen, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Durham-Tees Valley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Humberside, Inverness, Leeds-Bradford, London City, London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Southampton.

KLM flies via the multi-awarding winning Amsterdam Airport Schiphol whose wealth of accolades include Business Traveller’s ‘Best Airport in Europe’ award 2011.

For more information, visit www.klm.com  or call 0871 222 747.