Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) has announced it will not resume its only scheduled route from Brussels Charleroi to Hong Kong International on March 31, 2019, due to unfavourable market conditions.

"The economical and operational conditions are not met to viably resume the service. It is a painful decision to make but a reasonable one when it comes to preserving our development capabilities and assure continued full employment," CEO Niky Terzakis said.

The Belgian airline said that it still plans to launch flights to two destinations in mainland China in summer 2019. Last year, the airline signed an agreement with the local authorities to launch flights to Zhengzhou in Henan province.

Air Belgium also intends to start flights to unspecified destinations in Northern America in the Winter 2019/20 season. It already secured a Foreign Air Carrier Permit from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in late 2018.

Meanwhile, Air Belgium will focus on ACMI operations. The carrier currently wet-leases its A340-300 OO-ABB (msn 844) to British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) for the London Heathrow-Dubai International route, and another one OO-ABE (msn 938) to LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) for the Warsaw Chopin-New York JFK route. Air Belgium has two more Airbus quadjets.