KLM to Keep Flying Long Haul With Deal for Testing at Airport

KLM passenger aircraft, at Schiphol Airport.

Photographer: Natascha Libbert/Bloomberg
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Air France-KLM’s Dutch unit will keep operating long-haul flights as it reached a deal to have staff undergo a rapid Covid-19 test upon return to the Netherlands, eliminating the risk of leaving crews behind.

KLM earlier this week urged the Dutch government to exempt its staff from a new requirement for mandatory pre-departure virus testing. It said it would otherwise halt all its long-haul flights, also threatening delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and other necessary cargo, because CEO Pieter Elbers refused to leave flight personnel behind.