Amboseli National Park KLM’s Boeing 777-300ER Touches down in Nairobi

KLM_Boeing_Amboseli_maiden_flight_176288436.jpgAugust 28, 2009

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 4th Boeing 777-300ER named Amboseli National Park tonight touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on its first commercial flight.

On hand to receive the aircraft were KLM and Kenya Wildlife Service staff led by  Mr Yeshwant Pawar, the KLM Regional Manager for Eastern Africa and Mr Julius Kipng’etich, the KWS Director.

KLM is the only airline in the world that baptizes aircrafts with none coded names and has been using national parks since March 2008. In KLM’s two-class configuration, the Boeing 777-300ER will seat 425 passengers. Its nonstop flight range at maximum pay-load is 8,800 kilometres (5,530 nautical miles).

Within its range, the Boeing 777-300ER is the most efficient and climate and environmentally friendly aircraft. In KLM’s configuration, the aircraft has been equipped to offer e-enabled services to support operational management and communication in the air and on the ground, and to expand the range of e-services for customers at a later stage.

Following on from its active partnership with the Worldwide Fund for Nature in The Netherlands, KLM has named its four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft after renowned national parks, to make its care for nature tangible. When KLM first began operating, in the early 1920s, flying was mainly “looking down and enjoying nature”. Today, KLM wants to actively team up with nature once more. The PH-BVA has been named after Kenya’s “Amboseli National Park,” in honour of the parks biodiversity conservation efforts.

Amboseli National Park, branded Kilimanjaro Royal Court in 2006, lies at the foot of Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro and is one of the most popular of Kenya’s national parks. The snows of Kilimanjaro, white and crystalline, form a majestic backdrop to one of Kenya’s most spectacular displays of wildlife – lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, cheetah, buffalo and hosts of plains’ game, creating Kenya’s most sought after photographer’s paradise. It’s the jewel in the crown of Kenya’s world famous national parks.

The 390-sq km park, 250 km south of the capital city Nairobi, embodies five main habitats (open plains, acacia woodland, rocky thorn bush, swamps and marshland) and covers part of Pleistocene lake basin. Amboseli is famous for its big game, fantastic views of the Kilimanjaro and great scenic beauty.

It is also the home of the Maasai people. More than any other community in Kenya, the Maasai have learned to live in complete harmony with their environment and the wildlife which surrounds them.

It is against this backdrop that we heartily welcome “Amboseli National Park” KLM’s Boeing 777-300ER in skyteam colours.

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