56 AIRLINER WORLD SEPTEMBER 2017
found effect on everyone at Martinair.
Twenty-five years later, the crash – in
which 56 of the 340 on board died and
106 were injured – still causes debate
among survivors, ex-staff and even
the Dutch parliament as to who was to
blame. It would be the events that took
place six years after the tragedy that
defined the carrier’s future, however.
In 1998, after 40 years in charge,
Martin Schröder decided to step back
and hand over control, but not before
he had tried to secure the firm’s future:
he drew up a plan with KLM’s then
President and CEO, Leo van Wijk, that
would see the national carrier take full
control of Martinair.
KLM had been a shareholder of MAC
since November 1964 when it acquired
a 25% interest, and throughout the
early 1990s it had steadily increased
its stake, first to 33.82% (1991) and then
50% in 1995. The remaining 50% (orig-
inally 49%) had been owned since
October 1963 by a group of Dutch
shipping and coal companies that later
merged to form Nedlloyd.
Coincidentally, that same year, 1998,
Nedlloyd announced it wished to
divest its interests in the airline, with
KLM being the obvious buyer. But the
European Commission blocked the
deal on competition grounds, fear-
ing KLM would be too dominant in the
Dutch charter and cargo markets as it
already owned Transavia.
The deal was thwarted but worse
would follow: at the turn of the millen-
nium Martinair reported its first finan-
cial loss, a huge €34m, which it blamed
largely on rising fuel prices.
To help turn the company around,
the management launched its ‘Red
Alert’ plan to reduce costs, slashing
320 of 3,000 jobs (150 of which were
compulsory redundancies) and cutting
loss-making charters plus cargo routes
to the Far East and Caribbean.
The plan worked and Martinair
briefly returned to profit. But in 2006
it entered the red again and losses
increased to €68.9m the following year,
although around half of that was aThe distinctive
red and white
livery adopted by
Martinair during its
latter years, here
adorning the tails of
three of the carrier’s
McDonnell Douglas
MD-11 freighters.
AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/
MARTIN BOSCHHUIZENBetween 2003 and
2007 Martinair flew
seven Airbus A320s
under lease agree-
ments, including this
example PH-MPF (c/n
2167), on its European
network. However,
as part of a financial
restructuring plan,
the aircraft were
all withdrawn from
service in November
2007 and returned
to their owners.
AVIATION IMAGE NETWORK/
BRAVONOVEMBER