How KLM’s CEO learned the ropes working in Amsterdam’s airport—and is winning compliments from Delta’s Ed Bastian

It's true in the airline business—and in any business. Sometimes the wind is at your back, sometimes it's all headwinds. And it's the latter weather pattern where KLM CEO Marjan Rintel finds herself these days. Like many companies, KLM had been banking on strong macroeconomic factors to power it through this year, but instead the company faces an uncertain global environment, a darkening outlook for global travel, and the added challenge of sometimes tense relations with regulators.

It's...