Air Belgium (since 2016)

Air Belgium is a Belgian scheduled and charter airline headquartered in Mont-Saint-Guibert and based at Brussels South Charleroi Airport.[2]

This article is about the airline established in 2016. For the airline between 1979 and 2000, see Air Belgium (1979–2000).
Air Belgium
IATA ICAO Callsign
KF ABB AIR BELGIUM
Founded2016
Commenced operations3 June 2018 (2018-06-03)
HubsBrussels South Charleroi Airport
Fleet size4
Destinations5
HeadquartersMont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium[1]
Key peopleNiky Terzakis (CEO)
Employees278 (2019)
Websiteairbelgium.com

History

In the summer of 2016, the company was started with CEO Niky Terzakis, who worked previously for ASL Airlines Belgium, formerly TNT Airways.[3][4][5] The intention was to link Belgium to destinations in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Taiyuan from its base at Brussels South Charleroi Airport.[2]

The first flight from Brussels to Hong Kong was planned to take off in October 2017,[3] however this was postponed as the airline lacked an air operator's certificate (AOC).[6] In December 2017, Air Belgium announced that the first flight should now take place in March 2018 from Brussels South Charleroi Airport instead of Brussels Airport due to lower airport taxes and easy accessibility; it was also announced that, for business class and premium passengers, the airline would operate from a new dedicated terminal which would be built at the executive terminal, while economy passengers would use the regular terminal.[2][7]

On 14 March 2018, it was announced that the airline had received its AOC from the Belgian civil aviation authority and planned to begin operating scheduled flights from mid-April.[8]

On 29 March 2018, the airline flew its first revenue service by operating its Airbus A340-300 in Air Belgium livery on behalf of Surinam Airways from Amsterdam to Paramaribo.[9] On 25 April 2018, the airline announced a delay to its own inaugural flight (to Hong Kong) from 30 April 2018 to 3 June, due to not having the rights to operate in Russian airspace.[10]

Since the commencement of the service for the first destination, it started operating a scheduled service between Charleroi and Hong Kong. Moreover, the other aircraft of the fleet was provided to Air France for a daily service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Libreville during the 2018 summer season.

On 21 September 2018, the airline announced that scheduled operations between Charleroi and Hong Kong would be suspended during winter,[11][12] and the airline would instead focus on charter operations. The route should have restarted at the end of March 2019,[11] but two weeks before the planned date Air Belgium instead announced that they would be terminating the route and working towards starting new services to mainland China in mid-2019 and the Americas in late 2019 or early 2020.[13]

On 16 July 2019, the airline announced plans for flights to Fort de France and Pointe-à-Pitre by December 2019, with further plans to fly to Kinshasa and Miami.[14]

Destinations

As of June 2020, Air Belgium has destination as follows.[15][16]

Country City Airport Notes Refs
BelgiumBrusselsBrussels Airport(begins 15 December 2020)[17]
BelgiumCharleroiBrussels South Charleroi AirportHub
GuadeloupePointe-à-PitrePointe-à-Pitre International Airport[14]
Hong KongHong KongHong Kong International AirportTerminated[13]
MartiniqueFort de FranceMartinique Aimé Césaire International Airport[14]
MauritiusPlaine MagnienSir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport(begins 15 December 2020)[17]

Fleet
Air Belgium Airbus A340-300

As of November 2019, the airline operates the following fleet:[18][3][19]

Air Belgium fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
B P E Total
Airbus A340-300 2 — 45 — 212 257
2 32 21 212 265
Total 4 —
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References
  1. "Contact Us - Air Belgium". airbelgium.com.
  2. "Air Belgium to launch operations from Brussels South Charleroi Airport in March 2018". Aviation24.be. 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  3. "Air Belgium will start flying from Brussels Airport from October 2017 and unveils travel classes: economy, premium class and business class". Aviation24.be. 31 May 2017.
  4. "Air Belgium is one step closer to its launch: now hiring cabin and cockpit crew". Aviation24.be. 5 December 2016.
  5. "Air Belgium". Airliner World (October 2016): 7.
  6. "Two investment companies have taken a 25 percent share in Air Belgium - Aviation24.be". 28 October 2017.
  7. "Air Belgium selects Brussels South Charleroi Airport". Aviation24.be. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  8. "Air Belgium secures AOC, preps for launch". ch-aviation.com. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  9. dhnet.be - On connaît la date du vol inaugural de la compagnie Air Belgium (French) 2 April 2018
  10. sputniknews.com - New Belgian Airline Going Belly-Up Without Flights Permission Over Russia 30 April 2018
  11. Belga (2018-09-21). "Air Belgium suspend pour l'hiver sa liaison vers Hong Kong" (in French). RTBF.
  12. "Media Statement Air Belgium (English)". AirBelgium.com. 2018-09-21.
  13. "Air Belgium renounces to resume its Hong Kong service, but remains committed to its development plans". airbelgium.com. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  14. "Air Belgium launches flights from Brussels South Charleroi to French Antilles, mulls more destinations". www.aviation24.be. 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  15. "Air Belgium | Flights to Guadeloupe and Martinique | Simply Fly Away". Air Belgium.
  16. "Air Belgium sagt den Neustart ab". March 14, 2019.
  17. "Air Belgium reports positive results for the year 2019, announces new routes and a series of new services for its passengers". 22 June 2020.
  18. "Seat Map | On Board".
  19. "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World: 5. October 2019.

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