Liverpool became connected with more than 700 worldwide destinations this week when KLM started a service from John Lennon airport to its Schiphol hub.

The thrice-daily service will connect through Schiphol to 100 destinations served by KLM and another 650 using KLM’s SkyTeam partners. 

Pictured celebrating the first flight are Michel Coumans, chief executive of KLM Cityhopper, Warren Bradley, Liverpool City Council leader, Christine Ourmières, UK general manager, Air France KLM, and Neil Pakey, deputy chief executive of Peel Airports Group, which owns Liverpool. 

Ourmieres said passengers booked on the 80-seat Fokker service so far had been travelling on to Hong Kong, Lima, Cape Town, and Shanghai, Liverpool’s twin city in China.

The first flight was given a traditional airport aircraft "baptism" performed by the airport’s Fire and Rescue Service, who sprayed water over the aircraft using their emergency vehicles.

Ourmieres added: “Forward bookings on the route are growing strongly and we expect this to increase further as KLM becomes established within the area."

Pakey said: “Passengers can now travel between Liverpool John Lennon airport and hundreds of worldwide destinations for the first time in many many years. 

“Bookings have already been made to or from cities across all five continents and this important new route will be a tremendous asset for the city region, improving its competitiveness.”

Last week, Air-France-KLM subsidiary VLM unveiled plans for flights from London City to Nantes.

• Air France-KLM reports €194m loss (16 Feb 2009)