Durch royalty is now traveling on a Boeing 737

The Dutch king and queen will be able to travel more comfortably to meetings all over the world from now on. The Netherlands put a new government aircraft into service at the beginning of July: a Boeing BBJ 737-700.

The new aircraft for members of the government and the royal family can carry up to 26 passengers and is registered as PH-GOV. Fokker Techniek was responsible for the interior outfitting. Amongst the features of the new VIP Boeing are loudspeakers which are invisibly integrated into the wall panels and were developed in cooperation with the University of Twente. The jet’s water tank is large enough to enable a 20-minute shower while in flight.

The king could fly himself

With its additional tanks, the new Dutch government jet can fly non-stop to Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten, which are islands and countries in the Caribbean belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. According to Fokker Techniek parent company GKN Aerospace, it emits around 20 percent less CO2 than the Fokker 70. The aircraft is stationed at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and KLM is in charge of its operation and maintenance.

The national airline also provides the cockpit and cabin crew for the aircraft. However, King Willem-Alexander could also pilot the aircraft himself. He was a certified Fokker pilot and used to fly as a normal co-pilot on scheduled KLM flights. He has now switched to fly 737s, but currently only follows his passion privately.

Predecessor now flies in Australia

The predecessor of the new Dutch government aircraft was a Fokker 70, registered PH-KBX. The KBX stood for Koningin Beatrix. However, the aircraft was decommissioned in 2017. Since 2018 it has been flying as VH-KBX for the Australian charter airline and Fokker specialist Alliance Airlines, which also owns former Austrian Airlines and Helvetic Airways jets.

In the picture gallery above you can see PH-GOV both from inside and outside.