Airliner World — September 2017

54 AIRLINER WORLD SEPTEMBER 2017

By 1970, Martinair Holland –

rebranded in 1966 – had ten aircraft,

480 staff and was flying 415,300 pas-

sengers annually. Two years later

Schröder took a bold step and ordered

the company’s first widebody airliner,

a DC-10-30CF (Convertible Freighter),

which joined in November 1973.

Three more followed, the last arriving

in 1978.

Martinair continued to grow and, by

its 40th anniversary, had become the

dominant Dutch cargo and charter

airline, flying 2.2 million passengers

annually and 167,244 tons of cargo all

over the world using a fleet of 21 jets. It

was at the top of its game.

It’s all in the DNA

So, what made Martinair the carrier

it was? Airliner World spoke to sever-

al former and current employees who

described ‘the company’s DNA’ as

that of a single family, offering

great flexibility.

That feeling was evident last January

when many former ‘Reds’ attended the

book launch for Martinair MD-11, pro-

duced by former staff as a tribute to the

airline and the aircraft. Over the years

most people got to know each other as

staff levels never grew beyond 3,000.

Schröder himself described the

‘Martinair spirit’ back in 1975: “With

a Dakota it was a five-and-a-half

hour journey to Palma de Mallorca.

Stewardesses had to come in early to

bake the bread to serve on board. If a

flight arrived too late for passengers

to catch public transport, employees

crossed Holland at night to take them

home. Everyone did what was needed

to get things done, regardless of the

effort it took, and his or her position.”

Schröder himself was the undisputed

boss, an authoritarian and a control

freak. “He could turn up in the middle

of the night, arriving at 4am, checking

to see that everyone was ready for the

first flights of the day. And if you were

late, you had better have a very good

excuse,” a former pilot recalled.

Someone else added: “I have been

fired a few times by him, but after the

dust had settled I received a call kind-

ly requesting me to come back again.

Which I did, of course!”

His wife Tineke also had a big say

in many things, including cabin crew

recruiting, uniform styles and even

onboard meal selections.

Flexibility was an even stronger

company trait. You recognise it in the

fleet’s composition, with most types

purchased for their built-in flexibility.

For example, the DC-10 carried a

portable cargo loader for use at remote

airports and the DC-9-33RCs (rapid-

change) variants, allowing for

the removal of all 112 seats in just

45 minutes.

“We were one of the few to fly the

Airbus A310-203C with its extra door,”

Schröder explained. “I wanted that

extra door so that we were able to

Martin’s Air Charter

(MAC) launched

services on May 15,

1958, flying sight-

seeing tours over

Amsterdam using

three de Havilland

DH 104 Doves. This

aircraft has been

repainted to repre-

sent, PH-MAD (c/n

04453), and is cur-

rently preserved at the

Nationaal Luchtvaart-

Themapark Aviodrome

Museum, Lelystad.

AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/

WOLFGANG MENDORF

CENTRE • To meet

demand the airline

acquired five Douglas

DC-7s from KLM

Royal Dutch Airlines,

enabling it to operate

charter and cargo

flights across the

globe. AIRTEAMIMAGES.

COM/ATI COLLECTION

Less than two years

after launching its

first services, Martin

Air Charter expanded

with the arrival of its

first Douglas DC-3 in

February 1960. The

fleet quickly grew

to six examples

as the carrier’s

network increased.

AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/

BOB O’BRIEN COLLECTION