KLM Boeing 787 Carrying Belgian Queen Makes an Emergency Landing in San José Due to Cracked Windshield

A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 787 was forced to make an emergency landing in San José, Costa Rica, on Sunday, February 9, due to a cracked windshield. The flight, which included Belgian Queen Mathilde among its passengers, was diverted due to a cracked cockpit windshield. Queen Mathilde was traveling as part of her role as Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium on a humanitarian mission.

The aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 registered as PH-BHD, was operating flight KL759, a routine service from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to San José Juan Santamaría International Airport. This route operates four times a week, and on this occasion, the royal presence made the flight particularly notable.

According to Flightradar24, the aircraft departed from Amsterdam at 13:13 and, after more than ten hours of flight, had to perform an emergency landing on Runway 07. The landing occurred at 16:56 local time, about 14 minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival. KLM later confirmed the situation in a statement to Simple Flying

“Last Sunday, flight KL759 made a priority landing at San José due to a damaged windshield of unknown cause. The safety of passengers and crew was not compromised. All passengers for the return flight (KL760) have been rebooked to another flight.”

According to ch-aviation, the affected aircraft, PH-BDH, is a nine-year-old Boeing 787-9 that initially took flight in January 2016 before its official delivery to KLM the following month. As of September 2024, the aircraft had logged 44,002 flight hours across 5,139 flight cycles. Before the incident, it had most recently flown from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam. Data from Flightradar24 indicates that PH-BDH remains grounded pending further inspection.

The return flight, KL760, originally planned for the following day, was instead operated by PH-BVN, a ten-year-old Boeing 777-300ER. This aircraft had landed in San José from Amsterdam on February 10 at 13:40. It remains uncertain when PH-BDH will be cleared to resume operations.

KLM currently operates a fleet of 24 Boeing 787s, including 13 Boeing 787-9s and 11 Boeing 787-10s. These aircraft primarily serve long-haul routes. According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, the busiest route for KLM’s 787s is Amsterdam to New York JFK, with up to 12 weekly flights. Other major routes include Amsterdam to Mumbai and several other destinations with daily service. The airline’s longest nonstop 787 route is from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires.

• Featured image by Nicky Boogaard

Youssef Yahya

Youssef Yahya is the CEO and Founder of Aviation for Aviators, a platform dedicated to the aviation industry. With over 3 years of experience as an aviation writer, Youssef is passionate about sharing his insights on aviation, entrepreneurship, and the broader business landscape. As a Teaching Assistant in Entrepreneurship at Nile University, he also nurtures the next generation of entrepreneurs. When he’s not exploring the skies or business ventures, you can find him saying, ‘Drag your coffee, and let’s talk aviation, entrepreneurship, and football.’

You might also like:

• Qantas’ Oldest A380 Returns to Commercial Service
• Save the birds!
• How Covid-19 Let The Flights Drop
• FAA And EASA found a certain A320 Neo engine problem with the fuel used in the A320
• An Interview with Air Astana’s UK senior Regional Manager: Richard Ledger