This is my last column of the year somewhat longer than usual, because I want to look back over 2015

5 with you. At the top of my first column of 2015 I wrote, Lets bundle our energy and mental powers and
turn them into decisiveness and actions. And this is precisely what we
have done together over the last year. I am immensely proud and especially grateful for the enormous efforts of the KLM staff.
The days leading up to Christmas are always a good time to reflect on the
past year and to look forward to the year ahead. I would like to take you
through the thoughts that come to my mind as I contemplate the year.

At the end of 2014, we set ourselves concrete targets and announced

new initiatives. For me, 2015 has been the year in which many of
these initiatives have been put into practice and have born the first
fruits, both financially and for the customer. We are on course for a
KLM that is fit and healthy and ready for the future. Change, Participate & Win is not only a slogan, it is increasingly becoming a way of
working. We are truly in a process of change, as is tangible and visible in many parts of the company. We are retaining what is good,
changing what is no longer appropriate and, on these foundations,
we are building a new KLM.
And Participate we do. Nigh on 2,000 people submitted suggestions
to the CEO Mailbox (generating over 10 million in annual savings)
and many bottom-up ideas have been put forward. But employee
participation is also apparent from the intense discussions at KLM
about a High Performance Organization and the engaged and constructive criticism of the Works Council. Our focus on Moving Your
World, unit-cost reduction, and increased productivity in 2015, has
brought winning into view once more.
Much has been communicated over the last year, both centrally and
in the divisions. It is extremely important, to my mind, that everyone
at KLM is as well informed as possible about the position our company is in and that your questions and signals reach us, the board of
directors, and ExCom. As well as issuing communications we have
also entered into dialogue with each other in many areas. I have
greatly enjoyed conversations with people who submitted ideas to
the CEO Mailbox, on departmental visits and in employee sessions.
If we maintain an ongoing dialogue with each other at all levels top
down, bottom up and sideways we will continue to realise our
goals.

KLMs relationship with Air France(-KLM) has been the focus of a lot
of unfortunately, often negative media attention over the last
year. I have addressed this at length in my columns, one of which
was entitled Stronger together.

Like KLM, Air France too is working hard to turn results around. The best
way to achieve this is by bundling our strengths within departments,
between the silos, but also with our colleagues at Air France and the Air
France-KLM Group. Together we are strong.

Our KLM Flight Plan for 2015 had five pillars:

Customer and product

Network and fleet
Operation
People and organisation
Finance

Now the year is almost at an end, we may conclude that most of

these targets have been met. We have a long list of achievements for each of the pillars. Below I will look at a number of
results that will help us to achieve our ambition to become the
most customer-centric, innovative and efficient European network carrier.
Customer-centric
Our customer satisfaction, which we measure using Net Promotor Score, has risen from 35 to 38. This is incredibly important,
because we can only win if our customers
value us. Our (frontline) staff are essential
to our efforts to win customers hearts. Our
customer feedback shows us that KLM is
second to none in this area. We also made
great progress on our product in 2015. Our
investment in the ICA Business Class (now
62% full-flat seats) is paying back in customer satisfaction. Much has been written
about the introduction of the 787 Dreamliner, but we have good news too about the
KLC fleet. Two more Embraers joined the
fleet in December, bringing the total to 30.
Eight new aircraft were added to the KLM
Group fleet as a whole in 2015. KLC was voted Best Regional Carrier in 2015 something to be truly proud of!
Transavia celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, unveiled a new livery,
improved its results, and is opening a new base in Munich next year. We
continued to lead the field in social media too, introducing a one-to-few
strategy to supplement the one-to-many channels on, for instance, Facebook. Add to this our sale of ancillary products and were able to increase our income by 20% compared with the previous year.
We also booked significant achievements outside the passenger business.
E&M realised considerable growth in the number of customers for 787
components and won its first customers for 787 maintenance. Cargo also
did well, booking growth in the Pharma (cooled containers) business and
is at the vanguard of the use of e-AWBs (e-airway bills). There were,
therefore, many customer-centric initiatives in all four of the KLM businesses: Passage, Cargo, E&M and Transavia.
Innovative
2015 was also the year in which we took major steps to shift digitisation
to a higher level. We were already doing a lot for customers with our excellent social media, but we have now also developed our internal processes. This is by no means complete, but the first steps have been taken
its impossible to think of working onboard without iPads. The information we pass on to our crews using this technology is crucial to the
customers experience. I love the enthusiasm with which our cabin crews
took to the iPads that enable them to provide an even better onboard service.
Almost all internal communications have now shifted from print to digital,
or will do by the start of 2016. The digitisation of HR staff files has also
been completed two years earlier than initially planned.

And at Cargo, the first real digital breakthrough has come with the introduction of e-Fast Delivery. By linking e-freight to a trucks identity we can
ensure that the driver immediately knows which docking station to go to
for loading and unloading, saving on waiting time. Developments at E&M
too are in full swing with the introduction of 3D printer seat(cover) repairs
and a 3D scanner to inspect damage after lightening strikes.
We are making great strides throughout the operation with
a new way of working, which entails continually making
improvements. In 2015 we introduced the X-gates, where
new processes and new products will be tested by KLM
colleagues in the flesh at Schiphol; our Integrated Safety
Management System took our safety to operating level;
and 2015 saw us once again win the number one spot on
the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the 11th consecutive year.
This week the Innovation Awards were presented for the
tenth time. A record number of entrees (71), votes (more
than 1700) and visitors (more than 500) shows just how
engaged with innovation our company is. Colleagues presented an enormously diverse range of ideas at this event
precisely what we need. This is how we will achieve a
part of our ambition. A new category for bottom-up ideas
was introduced at this years Innovation Awards. The nine most striking,
bottom-up ideas were rewarded with a mini-trophy. I will have a breakfast meeting with the contestants at the beginning of 2016 to hear more
about the power of innovation.
Efficiency
Innovation often also brings improved efficiency, as with digitisation, for
instance. All the efforts of the last year are beginning to show in the first
improvements to our results, with reduced unit costs and increased
productivity. This is due to the new CLAs, reductions in FTEs and management layers at all levels, and many PERFORM 2020 initiatives
throughout the company. Cargo did especially well in managing to reduce
unit costs in the face of a shrinking full-freighter operation.
Your contributions to the bottom-up initiatives and the CEO Mailbox have
been of immense value and I deeply appreciate them. Unfortunately, we
are not yet where we need to be, though our achievements in 2015
should certainly encourage us on the road ahead. We have seen we have
what it takes.
Supported by a High Performance Organization
We must not, of course, fail to mention the major change that High Performance Organization has set in motion in 2015 and which will be put
into effect next year. Improving our response to customers means a slimmer, flatter, less complicated organisation with fewer hierarchical layers.
But it is not only a reduction in management that is needed. The slimmer
organisation will also emerge for a large part from the centralisation of
support functions. It requires better cooperation and an optimal use of
employees talents. With the introduction of a High Performance Organization we are in fact doing what we said we would at the end of 2014.
Last week the first Y-requests were submitted to the Works Council. The
results of negotiations with the trade unions about mobility arrangements
are expected to be ratified very soon.
I fully understand that these changes bring a great deal of uncertainty
and that for some colleagues it will mean they will lose their jobs. We are
constantly trying to strike a balance between care and speed. We will, of
course, offer maximum support to those affected by providing them with
support, training, or help finding new work.

This phrase headed my CEO Column in March. I felt and still feel it very
much applies to KLM. Over the last year we have worked on short-term
plans and a long-term strategy for KLM. Crucial to this was defining our
explicit right to exist our purpose. During four employee sessions at the
end of November we introduced Moving your World. The summary and

the digital version of the book Moving your World is available on MyKLM. The divisions held their own information
sessions to tell staff who couldnt attend the four meetings
about what had been discussed. Our purpose, Moving your
World, is the foundation on which everything do we rests.
It is our compass to guide us in our strategy, ambition and
implementation.

We have arrived at the start of a new year. 2015 clearly

showed how we are making savings on one hand and investing on the other. This will continue in 2016. The
amount we are investing will rise drastically from 460 million to 600 million, which means we will have to continue to sharpen our
focus on costs and increase the speed of reductions. Now that we have
laid down our purpose, strategic choices and ambition, the time has come
to further implement the plans. We will continue to carry out and implement our KLM purpose "Moving your World", using this compass to
achieve the customer experience, behaviour and work climate, and leadership we desire.

The key themes for our KLM Flight Plan 2016 are:
Customer and product
Increasing customer satisfaction (raise Net Promotor Score to at least
40)
Approx. 72% full-flat seats in World Business Class
Continued development of 787 component maintenance and GEnx
engine maintenance
Network and fleet
Continued modernisation of our fleet and our product on European
and ICA routes: four new Embraers 175 for KLC; three new 737-800s
for Transavia Nederland; two new Boeing 777-300s and no less than
six extra Boeing 787 Dreamliners for KLM
Six new European destinations and Salt Lake City in the USA
Add to our partnerships, especially in Asia
Operation
Continue digitisation for staff and processes
Launch the complete Operational Excellence programme
Continue to develop e-freight and invest in a new cargo warehouse
People and organisation

Implement High Performance Organization

Agree two new CLAs for cabin and ground crew with a 4% rise in
productivity annually
Achieve level effective for our Integrated Safety Management System

Finance
Meet our financial targets in operational results, unit costs, productivity, free cash flow, debt reduction, and more.

Our Flight Plan for 2016 will be presented in detail in January 2016. The
coming year will be both exciting and challenging. On the one hand we
are facing uncertainty about the new organisation and each others roles
in it, on the other hand we have ambitious plans which will give us energy
and which we have to realise. The competition does not rest on its laurels, but neither do we! I am convinced that we will make 2016 a successful year. After all, together we are KLM and together we will ensure
that Change, Participate & Win becomes reality.

Our 33,000 colleagues in the KLM Group have worked incredibly

hard over the last year. Thanks to the commitment of all our colleagues and by bundling our strengths and efforts, we are beginning to be able to get KLM back on course and to build customer
loyalty. Grateful and proud are the apposite words here for me.
And with that KLM spirit I look forward to 2016 with optimism.

In the meantime I would like to offer you and those dear to you a
Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy new year. For
those who have time off this Christmas, I hope you are able to
recharge your batteries, ready for the year ahead. There will be
uncertainty, but many challenges and opportunities too. For those
of you who are working over Christmas, thank you for your commitment to making our customers experience a positive one at
Christmas.
See you next year!

Click here to see my Christmas message video