KLM Mobilizes Military MRO Activities

AMSTERDAM—KLM has inducted its first maintenance technicians into a program to learn how to maintain Royal Netherlands Air Force Boeing helicopters, as part of a multiyear effort to build up its military maintenance, repair and overhaul operation.

The first few staff began the familiarization training process this week, said Gijs van Rooijen, KLM Engineering and Maintenance’s defense MRO program director. They will eventually work on Boeing AH-64 attack helicopters and CH-47 transport rotorcraft for the Dutch military, he added.

“We don't have any rotary-wing [aircraft] in our fleet, so it's completely new that we do that,” he said during Aviation Week’s MRO Europe conference and exhibition.

KLM has historically supported military platforms, including its work on NATO’s Boeing E-3 AWACS fleet as part of an industrial partnership, which will continue into the 2030s until the replacement Saab GlobalEye is fielded.

The company is now going beyond that work, signing an agreement with the Dutch government to help bolster sovereign military capabilities. As part of its efforts, some KLM pilots have become reservists to fly Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters to provide greater staffing flexibility in times of conflict.

The helicopter maintenance staff are not reservists and would not deploy in times of conflict, van Rooijen said. They could, however, backfill military maintenance personnel at their home bases when those troops have deployed elsewhere.

Four mechanics are now undergoing the training. KLM was targeting a slightly higher number, but it has taken longer to obtain military-focused security clearance for staff who had already undergone vetting by the company. That process emerged as one of the lessons the company is learning from working with the military customer.

The training is not just aimed at learning the hard skills associated with the job, van Rooijen said, but also the soft skills of working with the military.

As a next step, KLM is looking to use its civil test benches for military work.

The company is also looking to increase activities as the Dutch military fields new systems, including a dozen Airbus H225M Caracal special operations helicopters and the Embraer KC-390 tanker transport.

“Many things are happening,” van Rooijen said.