In the same year of its founding, 1928, the Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Dutch East Indies Airways) operated its first flights in the Dutch East Indies. About a decade later, the airline ran regular air services between the ‘mother country’ and the colony. Due to the extremely high prices, however, it was only the very wealthy who could afford air travel: in the early days, an Amsterdam-Batavia return ticket with Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, (KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines) cost four times as much as a first-class place on a mail boat with the same destination. The stopovers that were necessary for refuelling purposes meant that flights from Schiphol Airport to Tjililitan Airport, near Batavia, initially took a week. The planes’ engines made so much noise that the ear plugs provided free of charge were by no means a luxury. Even so, the Dutch colonial elite almost instantly embraced the inter-island flights in particular because of their speed. They flew from Batavia to Semarang in three hours.
1. KNILM. Dienstregeling en tarieven ingaande 1 November 1934. [KITLV, TS 10211] [Detail of the Front - Front - Interior (3x)]
2. Malay-language KNILM timetable, 1 November 1932. [Ephemera-collectie Or. 27.622, nr. 21] [Front and Back]