"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your king from the cockpit!" This could be happen to passengers after April 30. “Prince Willem-Alexander is determined to ‘as long as possible’ keep his pilot license, even after the inauguration,” says the Government Information Service (RVD).

In order to have the required flight hours for the license, the prince has for many years been a guest pilot at KLM Cityhopper. He flies to European destinations with a Fokker 70. “This can be both,” says the RVD, “on the government plane PH-KBX as on a Fokker 70 from the regular fleet.”

Willem-Alexander has often said that flying is important to him. Had his crib not stood in the palace, he would have preferred to be a Captain on a Boeing 747 or any such large machine. He once said in a TV interview, "I love to occasionally get away with a plane out of the land, up in the air, looking down. That is enjoyable. "

His parents have always supported his hobby, which he inherited from his grandfather Prince Bernhard. Queen Beatrix in 1991 said, "He loves flying and I am happy he has found something he can really enjoy to his full satisfaction."

On the responsibility for the flying king, RVD says, “For a license and being a guest pilot, applicable rules which fall under the organizations will belong to the minister responsible.”

The prince will be pleased, because he has had to let go of other passions. Following the announcement by Queen Beatrix of her abdication, Willem-Alexander immediately contacted the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and asked him to relieve him of his obligations as IOC member.

He also has to leave his work on water management as chairman of the Water Advisory Committee, confirms the RVD. Further, he has informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that he has to let go of his leading role at the water committee UNSGAB.