Dutch airline KLM will keep operating long-haul flights, including for vaccine distribution, after agreeing with the government on softer demands for returning aircrews to carry out rapid Covid-19 tests.
The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM said earlier in the week it would cancel all its 270 weekly long-haul flights to the Netherlands as a result of new Covid-19 rules, requiring passengers and crew to show evidence of a negative rapid coronavirus test taken just before departure.
KLM at the time said this would make it impossible to keep flying to countries with a high risk of coronavirus infections, as it would risk having to leave crew behind.
It warned this would also hurt vaccine distribution as cargo flights would also be cancelled.