KLM cityhopper (WA, Amsterdam Schiphol) has wet-leased eight Embraer regional jets for the Summer 2024 season, as it lacks pilots to keep its in-house fleet fully utilised.
"We have wet leases with German Airways (ZQ, Cologne/Bonn) and Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside). This is due to a shortage of pilots. Recently, we have hired more pilots, and we are training them now," the airline's spokesperson told Aviation Week.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows cityhopper is currently wet-leasing six E190s from German Airways, as well as one E170 and one E190 from Eastern Airways. All eight aircraft are based out of Amsterdam Schiphol and operate under the code of parent KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol).
KLM cityhopper operates seventeen E175s, thirty E190s, and eighteen E195-E2s (with eight more due). However, one E175, four E190s, and three E195-E2s are currently inactive.
The Dutch carrier announced plans to wet-lease the regional jets earlier this year but did not disclose the exact numbers at that time. KLM is also wet-leasing a single A321-200 from Privilege Style (P6, Palma de Mallorca) for its mainline operations.
