Air Belgium secures AOC, preps for launch

Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) has announced it had been granted additional traffic rights for Siberian overflights by the Russian aviation authorities. The recently launched Belgian carrier plans to use the rights to debut more Asian services.

"Successful negotiations between Russian and Belgian authorities! Air Belgium has now secured overflights for increased frequencies and destination points and access to all Trans-Siberian routes. This result allows us to consider additional destinations," the carrier said in a Twitter post.

Earlier this year, CEO Niky Terzakis said Air Belgium would launch services out of Brussels Charleroi to each of Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Taiyuan by the end of 2018.

Currently, the carrier operates 2x weekly between Charleroi and Hong Kong Int'l using an A340-300. It operates three units of the type in total with one wet-leased to British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) for its London Heathrow-Cairo Int'l route. The third Airbus quadjet returned from a wet-lease to Air France on September 1 but has not been...

Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) chief executive Niky Terzakis has outlined the carrier's planned Chinese network operations, tentatively due to launch during the final quarter of the year.

In an interview with Le Soir, Terzakis said that in addition to its current 3x weekly Brussels Charleroi-Hong Kong Int'l flights, Air Belgium would target Zhengzhou from late September followed by Wuhan in October, and finally Taiyuan in November.

Also in October, Air Belgium hopes to begin interline operations with Asian partner carriers. According to Terzakis, Air Belgium passengers will be able to book flights to between four and six destinations in Asia using Hong Kong as a transit point.

"From Charleroi, we'll be able to reach cities like Tokyo (Japan) and Cebu (Philippines)," he said.

Commenting on the Hong Kong route's performance thus far, the CEO said that although load factors ranged between 50 and 60% on its launch in June/July, they have since gone up with figures for August showing between 75 and 85% on "some days"....

Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) is evaluating adding full-freighter aircraft in the future as cargo is an important part of the start-up's revenue projections, Cargo Manager Europe Pascale Demieter has told CargoForwarder Global.

Demieter has refused to elaborate on the plan and has underlined that no firm decisions have been taken yet.

The Belgian start-up has recently launched its maiden scheduled route, connecting Brussels Charleroi with Hong Kong Int'l. The airline currently operates two A340-300s and plans to add a further two units of the type imminently. Given the Airbus quadjets' large bellyhold cargo capacity, freight is already an important part of Air Belgium's business model. However, the airline has stressed that cargo revenues are seen just as an addition to the underlying profitability of the passenger operations.

Once the carrier decides to launch full-cargo operations, it would most likely also focus on Far Eastern Asian traffic. Air Belgium intends to establish a feeding network using trucks (RFS) as it had earlier ruled out launching its own European flights. The carrier...

Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) is planning to start flights to the United States this year, a filing with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) has revealed.

In its application for Exemption Authority and a Foreign Air Carrier Permit, Air Belgium said that once it has secured the requisite paperwork, it intends to operate Belgium-US charter flights first before branching into the scheduled services market.

"Air Belgium requests expedited approval of this application so that marketing and sale of the proposed services can begin without delay," it said.

Air Belgium currently operates two A340-300s on scheduled passenger flights between its Brussels Charleroi base and Hong Kong Int'l. It has already announced plans to expand into the mainland China market at some point over the coming months.