KNILM

Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (in English: Royal Dutch Indies Airways) was the airline of the former Dutch East Indies. Headquartered in Amsterdam, KNILM was not a subsidiary of the better-known KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), despite the similar name. The airline had its headquarters in Amsterdam and an office in Batavia (current Jakarta).

Founding and expansion

KNILM was founded on 16 July 1928 as the NILM by a group of 32 Netherlands Indian investors with a capitalization of NLG 5 million. To prevent confusion with an existing insurance company Nillmij, it was appended with the Koninklijk (Royal) title on 15 October 1928. The airline operated in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), and later, parts of Southeast Asia and Australia.

Its first regular operations were between Batavia (now Jakarta) - Bandung, and Batavia - Semarang, starting on 1 November 1928. The ceremony was held at Cililitan airport in Batavia (now Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport). The Batavia-Semarang flight was later extended to Surabaya. Gradually, the services were expanded to include other islands in the archipelago, namely to Palembang and Medan in Sumatra, Balikpapan and Tarakan in Kalimantan, and Denpasar in Bali. Immediately before the Pacific War, KNILM also created a network in the eastern part of the East Indies archipelago, serving towns such as Ambon. For this purpose, amphibious aircraft were used, due to the lack of airstrip facilities in the region.