Did you know about KLM airline’s Delft Blue Houses?
Distributed as a ‘thank you’ souvenir to business class passengers on intercontinental routes; Every October 7 –KLM’s anniversary day the collection gets a new addition. This year it’s a winery from Zeeland…
KLM's cabin crew member Anich Vandenberg | Photo Credit: Rameshinder Singh Sandhu
If you have travelled in a business class cabin of a KLM flight, the national airline of the Netherlands (also called Holland) you must be au fait with the charming miniature Delft houses, distributed minutes before landing. Painted in blue and white colours, they are copies of real buildings in the Dutch speaking nation.
They can be simple houses to buildings of national importance from museums and theatres to hotels and banks. They are brought in a tray and as passengers you are free to make your choice. The number under each can be used to learn the details through one of the KLM crew members or the KLM website.
The word Delft is used with them because they are made in Delft, a small town near Amsterdam, known for making pottery. Travellers from across the globe flock to this town to buy Delft made products for their kitchen, offices and living rooms. It can be reached within an hour on a train from Amsterdam.
Interestingly, these houses are also filled with Dutch gin dotted with a small hole with a tight seal. The ritual to distribute them commenced in 1952 as a ‘thank you’ gesture to the passengers. Some frequent travellers have collected many of them and after enjoying the gin drink in them have placed them as KLM memories in their living rooms or study tables.
The newest additions
This October 7 KLM has added Wijnhoeve De Kleine Schorre (numbered 107) –a charming black –tarred barn in Dreischor which is a winery as the Dutch name suggests. Dreischor is a village in Zeeland, a southwestern coastal province of the Netherlands.
The latest addition (KLM Delft house) | Photo Credit: Photo by KLM
Last year on October 7 KLM announced #106 Villa Rameau to the collection. “We release a new house on 7 October each year to celebrate KLM's founding. In 2025, for our 106th birthday, we created a miniature of "Villa Rameau" in Leiden. Villa Rameau is a former sexton's house, built between 1645 and 1648, adjacent to the Pieterskerk in the heart of historic Leiden. Over the centuries, various sexton families provided daily travel and sailing around the church. Since 1916, the Rameau family has lived there and played a central role in the Leiden Resistance during World War II,” a text from the website of KLM reads.
It further states, “KLM also chose Villa Rameau because of the special bond between Leiden and America. In the 17th century, religious refugees from all over the world, including the famous English Pilgrims, came to Leiden. They stayed here for twelve years and became part of Leiden's city life. In 1620, some sailed to America on the Mayflower, where their first harvest festival, inspired by the Relief of Leiden, evolved into the American Thanksgiving.”
We hope on your upcoming KLM flight (should be intercontinental to or from Amsterdam) you get to choose Villa Rameau, from one of the world’s oldest airlines, founded way back in 1919. ‘Happy crew: are often the two words used to describe the KLM crew. I agree, as I have been on two long haul KLM flights.
During one of those flights, a crew member who had just finished distributing the cute houses said, “It’s joyful to see passengers smiling when we turn up with them in the cabin. Some instantly pick one, some take time to choose. Every house is so charming after all –a piece of Holland in the sky made with Dutch mud.”
“For 107 years, KLM has connected the Netherlands with the world. In doing so, we not only bring people together but also showcase what the Netherlands stands for. With our 107th Delft Blue miniature house, we honor De Kleine Schorre, a partner that, like KLM, dared to pioneer and has demonstrated how Dutch quality and craftsmanship can earn international recognition. That makes this house a fitting symbol of our 107th anniversary”, says Marjan Rintel, President and CEO of KLM.
(Business class is the highest echelon of cabins in KLM and one could also buy Delft houses through KLM website).
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Distributed as a ‘thank you’ souvenir to business class passengers on intercontinental routes; Every October 7 –KLM’s anniversary day the collection gets a new addition. This year it’s a winery from Zeeland…