Maybe, probably not.
As an employee at KLM I can only say that we have not been told about anything like this heading our way. Not that we are always kept in the middle of the loop, but this feels too much like going from 0-100 in a heartbeat. The disappearance of the oldest brand name in our industry would be preceded by a long string of strong rumors, and speculations, maybe this is the start? The quality of the paper makes me doubtful.
In absolute terms KLM is not big (we are number 13 in the world I believe), but the huge size of our competitors and partners has not insulated them from the present upheavals that our industry is going through. Out of the 12 carriers larger than us, 8 are experiencing serious troubles. A sale or split of KLM would also require the government and the employee councils to give some major input before our board of directors is allowed to make any decision that would carry these implications. On all fronts things are quiet.
KLM has had a number of setbacks in the last few years, but its cash reserves are more than adequate to weather the storm for now. Our cash flow is still positive (as of late January). But like all traditional network carriers we are having a rough time. The only way I could see this scenario playing out would be for KLM to go bankrupt, and that is still a long way away.
Also the head-office is not aware of anything unusual happening.
I think for now we can put this “news-story” away.