October 3, 2024 at 12:10 People
AMSTELVEEN The well-known aviation entrepreneur Martin Schröder has passed away in his hometown of Noordwijk at the age of 93. He was born into a strictly religious family that lived on the Amsteldijk near the Kruitfabriek in Amstelveen, where his father also worked. Schröder founded the aviation company Martinair, named after him, in 1958 together with John Block. He made flying accessible to a wide audience and flew tens of thousands of Dutch people to holiday destinations
In 1958, the aviation pioneer started flying sightseeing flights over Amsterdam with the company Martin’s Air Charter, which he founded. The company then flew from the Netherlands to Mallorca with a Dakota.
In 1998, Martin Schröder resigned from his position as chairman of the board of Martinair, after which the company started to work more closely with KLM. That aviation company already had a major interest in Martinair.
BRUST
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Schröder’s airline, a bust of Martin Schröder was placed in 1998 near Schröder’s birthplace on Amsteldijk-Zuid in Amstelveen. The statue was made by artist Pieter de Monchy.
FREIGHT CARRIER
Ultimately, Air France-KLM took over Martinair completely in 2008. Since November 2011, Martinair has been exclusively a freight company. KLM calls Schröder as an ‘entrepreneur par excellence’ who was important for air freight transport and made distant holiday destinations accessible to Dutch people.
FLY DISASTER
One of the low points for Schröder was the disaster near Faro in Portugal in 1992, when a Douglas DC-10-30CF from Martinair crashed during landing. The air disaster killed 56 people and seriously injured more than a hundred people.
