Is KLM going to Solo City (SOC)?

Whilst browsing the Indoflyer forums, I came across this topic about KLM wanting to open flights to Solo. In that topic, there was a link to an article by SoloPos.com, which stated that the Solo City (SOC) airport operator Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1), wanted to attract KLM to open direct flights there, and that the information was revealed in a meeting between AP1 SOC and the Indonesian Travel Agents Association (ASITA).

OK, being in the historic part of Central Java, one could understand why KLM might be interested, especially since Solo is next to the more famous Jogjakarta.

But something is funny or not right when you read:



"Saya dapat informasi bahwa KLM itu ingin terbang ke Bandara Ngurah Rai, Bali. Tapi, katanya di Ngurah Rai itu sudah penuh. Maka, kami mencoba menawarkan untuk masuk ke Solo, nanti dari Solo ke Bali bisa menggunakan maskapai domestik,” terang Usman.



GM AP1 Adi Soemarmo (Solo) Abdullah Usman said, "I received information that KLM wants to fly to Bali and that Bali airport is full. We are giving them an offer to fly to Solo, and the Solo-Bali connection can be provided by a domestic carrier."

He then went on further: 

"I also received information today that Pacific Royale will open the Solo-Bali route. I confirmed this with the Directorate General of Air Transportation, and (discussed) how to synchronize the plans of KLM and Pacific Royale."


Here is the problem:
1. KLM is already flying to Bali on a daily basis (KL835/836) using their Boeing 777-300ER
2. KLM is a member of SkyTeam.
3. Garuda is committed to join SkyTeam.
4. Pacific Royale, hasn't even started flying when I wrote this article.


Isn't obvious that even if KLM end up flying to Solo (which I think is unlikely) that KLM would ask Garuda to provide domestic connections rather than Pacific Royale?


So, who's pulling legs here? AP1? ASITA? KLM? Pacific Royale? Or... SoloPos?


I could forgive everyone if the article was written on 1st April 2012, but I do wish these people would use Google more often! Otherwise, this could be another case of truth gone bad because it wasn't conveyed correctly.

KLM and Social Media - How to really make a difference to your passengers!

We've seen enough Twitter accounts and Facebook pages for airlines. Many appear to fail to make their social media presence felt by passengers and the public. As social media become more prevalent, how do you make your social media presence relevant to your passengers?

Here's what KLM did in winter 2010.

KLM concluded their "social media experiment" very nicely:

In the age of social media, doing something that create a real smile on somebody's face is much cooler than attaching a smiley face. But most importantly it seems that indeed an airline could use social media to both surprise and make a small difference to a passenger's day, and we're not just guessing that, we know, because they told us, and their friends, massively.

With the passengers they surprised in winter 2010, they generated more than 1,000,000 impression... on Twitter alone. Not bad!

KLM continued the program through summer 2011, but the site, http://surprise.klm.com only shows that it went up to 18 August 2011. Whatever happened to this program? Is it still on?