Martinair facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Martinair

Founded	24 May 1958; 67 years ago (1958-05-24)
Hubs	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Frequent-flyer program	Flying Blue
Fleet size	4
Destinations	12
Parent company	KLM
Headquarters	Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands
Key people	Marcel de Nooijer (CEO)

Martinair is a Dutch airline that mainly carries cargo (like packages and goods) all over the world. It is based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. Martinair is part of a bigger airline group called Air France–KLM. The airline was started in 1958 by a person named Martin Schröder. For a long time, Martinair also flew passengers. But since 2011, it has focused only on carrying cargo.

History of Martinair

How it Started

Martin's Air Charter de Havilland Dove in the early 1960s

Martinair began on May 24, 1958. It was first called Martin's Air Charter (MAC). Martin Schröder and John Block started the company. They had just one airplane, a de Havilland Dove, and five workers.

In 1963, Mr. Schröder sold almost half of his company to some shipping businesses. Later, another big airline, KLM, bought the rest of the company from Mr. Schröder.

The airline's name changed to Martinair Holland in 1966. In 1967, the airline started flying to the United States, which helped it grow a lot. By 1971, all of Martinair's planes were jet-powered.

In 1991, the name Martinair Cargo was first used on planes. The word Holland was removed from all aircraft. In 1996, Martinair bought a large part of a Colombian cargo airline called TAMPA Cargo. Martinair later sold its share in TAMPA in 2008.

Martin Schröder, who started Martinair, stopped working day-to-day in 1998. He had won an award in 1995 for his important work in flying. Also in 1998, a European group stopped KLM from buying all of Martinair.

A Martinair Convair 640 plane in 1967

A Martinair Boeing 767-300ER passenger plane

The first McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane arrived in December 1994. Over the next three years, six more MD-11 planes were delivered to Martinair. Some of these planes could be changed to carry either passengers or cargo. Martinair was the first airline to use these special planes. From 1995 to 2006, some of these planes were set up to carry 390 passengers during busy summer times.

Recent Years

In 2006, Martinair bought four Boeing 747-400 planes from Singapore Airlines. These passenger planes were changed into cargo planes. They replaced older Boeing 747-200F cargo planes.

In 2007, Martinair said it wanted to have just one owner, preferably KLM. In 2008, a European group gave permission for this. KLM became the sole owner on December 31, 2008. In November 2007, Martinair stopped its short flights to focus on cargo and long-distance flights.

In 2009, three of the four 747 planes were stored because of money problems around the world. In September 2010, Martinair announced big changes. It would stop all passenger flights from November 2011. KLM would take over some of these flights. Martinair would only fly cargo. In November 2010, a European group fined Martinair €29.5 million. This was after they looked into airlines fixing prices.

By October 2011, Martinair had stopped all passenger flights. It had flown passengers since it started in 1958. Martinair used to fly passengers across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa from Amsterdam. The last passenger flight was on October 31, 2011. Since then, Martinair has only been a cargo airline.

In March 2015, Air France–KLM said they planned to make their cargo operations smaller. Because of this, all of Martinair's McDonnell Douglas MD-11F cargo planes were taken out of service by 2016. No new planes replaced them.

Martinair's Offices

The TransPort Building where Martinair and Transavia have their main offices

Martinair's main office is in the TransPort Building. This building is located at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. Martinair moved to this office on June 4, 2010. The TransPort Building also houses another airline called Transavia.

Building the TransPort Building started on March 17, 2009. It has a lot of space, about 10,800 square meters. The building was designed to be very good for the environment. It won awards for being green. There is also a parking area under the building.

Before this, Martinair's main office was in the Schiphol Center at the airport. After moving, Martinair sold its old office back to the airport.

Besides its main office in Amsterdam, Martinair also has offices in other parts of the world. The first international office opened in Hong Kong in 1975. The office for operations in the USA, called Martinair USA (later Martinair Americas), was first in New York City. In 1993, it moved to Boca Raton, Florida. Now, this office is in Doral, Florida, near Miami.

Other Parts of Martinair

The Martinair Flight Academy was a school for pilots. It was based at Lelystad Airport. It taught people how to fly private planes and big airline planes. In 2020, it moved to Groningen Airport. It joined with the KLM Flight Academy there.

Martinair also runs the Regional Jet Center. This is a place where planes are fixed and kept in good condition.

Where Martinair Flies

As of November 2022, Martinair flies cargo planes to 12 places. These flights are part of the Air France-KLM cargo network. They fly from Amsterdam-Schiphol to places in Africa, North America, and South America. Martinair also does extra charter flights. The company stopped flying passengers in October 2011, after 53 years of service.

Martinair's Planes

Current Planes

A Martinair Boeing 747-400BCF cargo plane

As of November 2022, Martinair has the following planes:

Martinair also helps operate other cargo planes under the Air France-KLM Cargo name.

Past Planes

Martinair used to fly these planes:

See also

In Spanish: Martinair para niños