transavia.com (IATA: HV, ICAO: TRA, and Callsign: Transavia) is a Netherlands based low-cost airline operating as an independent part of the Air France-KLM group. Schiphol International Airport (AMS), Amsterdam is its main base while Rotterdam Airport (RTM) is its secondary hub. transavia.com chiefly operates scheduled and charter services to leisure destinations. The airline was established in the end of 1965 as Transavia Limburg. The name was changed in 1966 in Transavia Holland and it began operations on 17 November 1966. In 1986, the name was changed to Transavia Airlines and it was the first airline to take advantage of the first open skies agreement signed between the UK and Dutch governments. Transavia started operating its first scheduled service on the Amsterdam to London Gatwick route on 26 October 1986. During 1991, the airline's major shareholder, Nedlloyd, sold its 80% holding to KLM. In 1998, Transavia was the first foreign airline to operate domestic services in Greece following a change in Greek aviation law. In June 2003, KLM acquired the remaining 20% of Transavia, making it 100% KLM owned. The subsequent merger of Air France and KLM made Transavia a wholly owned subsidiary of Air France-KLM. In the early 2000's, Transavia was primarily a charter airline with a low-cost airline subsidiary called Basiq Air. However, to strengthen its brand, Basiq Air and the Transavia charter arm were combined under the transavia.com name on 1 January 2005. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Transavia.com". |