Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) has announced via its social media accounts that it had been issued the Operating Permit by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). This will allow the carrier to launch its maiden services to the country.

The Belgian carrier plans to initially connect its base at Brussels Charleroi with Zhengzhou in Henan province.

Once launched, the flights would become Zhengzhou's maiden passenger European service. The airport already sees substantial cargo traffic to Europe, with Suparna Airlines, Air China Cargo, Cargolux, and Cargolux Italia all offering scheduled dedicated freighter flights between the city and destinations in Europe.

So far, Air Belgium's only scheduled route was its Charleroi-Hong Kong International service. The flights were terminated at the end of September. Air Belgium blamed its Chinese partner, a tour operator Utour, for not fulfilling its obligations at that time. Since then, the carrier has focussed on ACMI operations with its four A340-300s, of which only two units are currently active.

It is unclear when Air Belgium will launch its Zhengzhou flights and whether they will operate as scheduled or charter flights.