Dutch flag carrier KLM is taking additional steps to improve its performance, including a management shake-up that will see chief operating officer Maarten Stienen leave the company.

Chief executive Marjan Rintel, who has been at the helm for four years, has been given a second four-year period to turn the airline around, KLM said in a statement issued on Monday evening.

The changes are intended to “structurally strengthen the operational and financial foundation”, the company said, without disclosing further details.

Rintel said KLM would take steps to simplify the organisation, improve operations, boost revenues and cut costs, adding that she would take more direct control of day-to-day operations alongside the management team.

The shake-up comes in the wake of a disastrous first month of 2026, in which KLM services were disrupted by wintry weather and management faced criticism of the way they had handled the cancellations and delays which affected thousands of passengers.

The disruption is likely to cost the airline tens of millions of euros.

Parent group Air France-KLM is also stepping up its support for the Dutch airline and will push for additional synergies, group chief executive Ben Smith said.

He warned in November that further intervention could follow after third-quarter results showed that an ongoing €450 million cost-cutting programme was failing to deliver sufficient results. Air France-KLM shares have fallen by almost 8% since the start of the year.

Trade union De Unie said the group’s Paris headquarters was tightening its grip “with an even tougher mandate” and warned that staff were likely to pay the price.

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Meanwhile, union FNV Luchtvaart polled 190 people who worked at Schiphol during the disruption and three in 10 reported they had been threatened by travellers.

Workers also complained about the lack of support from management, some of whom “did not show their faces for five days”.

“Some people did not dare go home in their uniform because they were worried someone would attack them in the car park,” front desk worker Nicole van Unen told the AD.

KLM is currently carrying out its own evaluation of the chaos. In total, over 3,200 flights were cancelled at Schiphol, leaving 300,000 passengers stranded.