Henri Hourcade and Andrew Bell at the KLM announcement. Photo: Bill Smith

Passengers flying from Norwich International Airport are to have a greater choice of routes from Amsterdam after bosses at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines today announced they were adding a fourth daily flight from the city.

From April next year KLM is adding a new 1.55pm service out of Norwich in response to ongoing growth in passenger numbers using the link to Schiphol, with an additional lunchtime flight from Amsterdam arriving in Norwich at 1.30pm.

The new frequency will be bookable from October 20, and will increase capacity on the route by 33pc. Return flights from Norwich to Amsterdam begin from £119 return including all taxes.

Henri Hourcade, AIR FRANCE KLM, General Manager UK and Ireland, said the new frequency will offer a more flexible and business friendly schedule and increase long-haul connectivity via KLM’s Amsterdam Schiphol hub.

“The addition of a fourth frequency from Norwich demonstrates our commitment to the region,” he said. “The increase in frequencies will streamline the region’s worldwide connectivity via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and provide passengers with a more flexible service. For businesses, the extra frequency will allow for swifter connections to our long-haul network and in addition, it will give far greater flexibility to travellers doing business in Amsterdam and Europe who need to return to Norwich on the same day.”

He said the extra flight on the route cements Norwich International Airport’s position as one of the building blocks of KLM’s UK network. Load factors on the route have increased year on year with average load factors now running at 73.3pc, one of the highest across KLM’s UK network. Forward bookings to Amsterdam are also up by 4pc year on year.

Andrew Bell, chief executive of Norwich Internatioal Airport, said: “It’s a huge vote of confidence in our region and is good news for passengers. The benefits of KLM’s services from Norwich are clear for everyone to see.”