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 International 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 International route. The third Airbus quadjet returned from a wet-lease to Air France on September 1 but has not been active since. The fourth A340 is currently undergoing maintenance ahead of induction at Brussels National.