KLM has formally appointed Mathieu Essenberg as Chief Operating Officer and a member of the airline’s Board of Managing Directors.
The appointment was approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders and will take effect on August 1, 2026. Essenberg has been appointed for a four-year term, running until the close of KLM’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in 2031.
Essenberg has already been serving as KLM’s interim Chief Operating Officer in recent months.
He joined KLM in 2002 and has held a range of management positions across several operational areas of the airline, including Flight Operations, KLM Cityhopper, Hub Operations and Engineering & Maintenance.
Alongside his management career, Essenberg is also an active commercial pilot. He initially flew for KLM Cityhopper before moving to KLM and has served as a Boeing 737 captain since 2017.
Following the completion of his appointment, KLM’s Board of Managing Directors consists of Marjan Rintel as President and CEO, Bas Brouns as Chief Financial Officer, Miriam Kartman as Chief People Officer and Mathieu Essenberg as Chief Operating Officer.
