History

Airport restaurant De Vlijt is situated at a unique location. It’s a place with a remarkable – one could even say romantic – history. A past filled with airmen, parachutists and other rugged adventurers.

It is also a history populated by pioneers and hard workers. It began way back in 1937, when the dirt-poor Texel islanders took on the heavy labour of building the airport. This sweat and toil was part of a project to reduce unemployment. After that, De Vlijt was used by both the Dutch military and civilian aviation. In those years, KLM operated a regular line flight between Schiphol and Texel, especially for transporting day-trippers. Even back then, it would seem, not all Dutch people were satisfied with recreation that brought them no further than the local zoo. KLM deployed a Fokker F.XXXVI for these flights, which was a large plane originally built for use in the Dutch East Indies.