RIYADH, 31 July — A KLM official said here yesterday that the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) had decided to cooperate in phases during the coming years, working towards forming a strong alliance. An alliance coordination agreement to this effect was signed by MAS Managing Director Dato Md. Nor Yusof and KLM President and CEO Leo van Wijk in Kuala Lumpur recently. Baqar Hussain, senior sales executive and in charge of KLM operations in central province, said here today that the MAS and the KLM would align their marketing, sales and distribution activities, starting with those pertinent to their codeshare flights between Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam hubs. The two carriers intend to work towards a joint venture on the Kuala Lumpur-Amsterdam route, sharing costs and revenues. He said that the two carriers currently operated codeshare services between Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam and beyond the hubs to Australia/New Zealand and Scandinavia/Finland. They have also linked their loyalty programs Flying Dutchman/WorldPerks (KLM-Northewest) and Enrich (MAS) to full reciprocity of benefits and made their lounges mutually accessible. The new agreement, Hussain said, allowed the two partner airlines to further develop and optimize the full growth potential of their home hubs Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Both airports with state-of-the art facilities are the most modern in their respective regions to serve passengers and cargo customers and to handle sizeable passenger loads. Referring to the distinguished services offered by the KLM, he said that the KLM was offering world-class services on board and on grounds for all flights operating from Saudi Arabia. He said that KLM holidays package had been designed in a cost-effective manner especially for travelers from the Kingdom to a large number of European destinations like Amsterdam, Munich and Brussels. Hussain said that a Saudi tourist felt at home while reaching Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as this airport had a hotel, a choice of restaurants, an Arabic interpreter, a business class lounge, a children playing area, a train station. Not only this, Schiphol’s single terminal connects to 104 inter-continental destinations with KLM and its partners flying to over 350 destinations worldwide. Also KLM was the only airline that offered services to transport all kinds of animals on board. (MGAK)