Johan Martin Schröder Matters

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Vol. 23 No. 41		Thursday October 10, 2024

Johan Martin Schröder Matters

     Here we say goodbye, farewell and happy landings always to Johan Martin Schröder (May 13, 1931 – October 2, 2024)
     Martin was a pioneering Dutch pilot and founder of Martinair, the second Dutch airline (after KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) and the first Dutch air charter company.
     Recall one evening in Miami when he was honored at a special dinner with other aviation greats, including George Batchelor and Freddie Laker, all of whom sat at the same head table as we enjoyed hearing from larger-than-life aviation pioneers that day.
     But this is all about dear Martin.
     “Agile like Martinair: proactive in moving quickly to meet market demand, being able to efficiently change aircraft type as demand rises; to react to charter needs and overall continually streamline our thinking, and for example, set up short term networks,” he said.
     We recall those words and just love it.
     Before too long came the mega combo of Air France-KLM, all of which finally acknowledged little Martinair Cargo, the legendary airline that could.
     We knew Martin Schröder during the days we used to hang around Schiphol Airport in the Jacques Ancher era, when Pieter Bouw ran KLM and people like Stan Wraight and Jan H. Meurer were in the building every day. Paintings and sculptures, the work of local artists, were hung in the cargo terminal just to celebrate being alive and in the air cargo business.
     But as big and innovative as KLM Cargo was, and we wrote a book "True Blue" about it; over on the other side of the field was little Martinair Cargo, smart, efficient, quick to market—a constant surprise.
     Writing again of “Martinair Agility” brought back memories of those halcyon days.
     “While you are reading a book, it is also reading you,” the Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen advised, and we say with thanks, Amen to that, whilst whistling in the dark in a sentimental mood, remembering why Johan Martin Schröder matters.
GDA

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