Gelet op de aanbevelingen van de federale overheid i.v.m.
het coronavirus,
zal het ASA lokaal gesloten blijven tot nader bericht.
With the guidelines by the federal government in mind,
the ASA clubhouse will remain closed till further
notice.
30/05/2020
Brussels Airlines offers cargo-only flights Today
Brussels Airlines will fly a cargo only flight from Brussels to Qingdao (China).
A total of 3 flights are planned using an Airbus A.330-300. The company already
flew some cargo flights to African destination recently.
28/05/2020
Austrian Airlines restarts service to Brussel. Austrian
Airlines will restart its service to Brussel on 15 June 2020. The company will
use their smallest aircraft (DHC 8 Dash 8 and Embraer 195) at the start. When
the number of passengers rises again, the switch to the Airbus A.320 will be
made.
26/05/2020
Brussels Airlines restarts its operations with a network of 59 destinations from
June until August Brussels Airlines plans to restart its commercial flights from Brussels
Airport on 15 June after a 12 weeks interruption. The company offers an adapted
and downsidze summer schedule wich will consist about 30% of the planned summer
schedule in Europe and 40% of the long-haul program.
The company plans to offer flights to 59 destinations in 33 countries by the end
of August.
In order to prepare for the planned restart, Brussels Airlines puts in place
measures to protect its customers and staff during the travel journey, such as
additional disinfection of the aircraft and the use of mouth masks. Several
other measures are being evaluated together with the authorities and aviation
experts.
23/05/2020
The Aviation Factory and North Sea Aviation Center join forces at Oostende. The Aviation Factory opened an office in the new business aviation
terminal operated by NSAC (North Sea Aviation Center) at Ostend Airport. Both
companies will join forces.
During the last 8 months of 2019 NSAC handled around 1.800 bizjets flights.
15% of the Aviation Factory’s total sales comes from the activities at Ostend
Airport.
20/05/2020
ASL Group introduces new logo and corporate identity Private
jet company ASL group recently introduced a new logo for the entire group. “It's not just a logo. It's a brand” says CEO Philippe Bodson. “And we wanted
it to communicate a very clear and strong message to the world, especially in
these very challenging Covid-times. Not only does this new logo tells who we
are, it also tells what we do, how we do it and why we do it. It was a very
difficult and very long project. Our previous logo had a very strong visual
identity too, but it was ageing, and it wasn't really in line with our vision
anymore. ASL Group is a young, dynamic, efficient, fresh, and forward-looking
company. We aim for the best services and the best customer experience, and we
always aim for higher. This logo represents this vision. A very strong vision
and a promise for a brighter future for all the companies that compose our Group
today".
14/05/2020
Belgian Air Force defends Benelux airspace As
from today the Belgian Air Force take the responsability to guard the Benelux
airspace till mid September 2020. As a result Belgian F.16 fighters based at
Florennes AFB are on 24/24 standby and can react within minutes should an
unidentied aircraft show intentions to enter the Benelux airspace. Before today
the Dutch Air Force took this responsability.
14/05/2020
Back to business... After
more than 7 weeks of hibernation, Brussels Airlines has announced that they will
resume flights with a reduced network offer as from June 15th. Which destination
will be serviced will be communicated as soon as possible.
14/05/2020
Brussels Airport traffic April 2020 During
the previous month, April 2020, the number of passengers declined with 99.30%.
Only 17.042 passengers passed through the airport. (6.672 departing and 10.370
arriving) A number that the airport handles in less than 1 day under normal
conditions.
The number of flight dropped with 88% till only 2.360 movements (including 1.466
cargo flights)
10/05/2020
Corona exit for the Belgian General Aviation Until
today all VFR activities are prohibited with the exception of a monthly
maintenance flight for each aircraft and some special activities (pipeline
control, medevac, …)
From Monday 11 May local VFR flights are allowed when flown solo or when the
passengers live under the same roof as the pilot.
Commercial activities, VFR as well as IFR, are possible again. Flight-training
organisations have to follow the same strict rules as driving schools. But
flight training (theoretical as well as practical) is possible again.
07/05/2020
Corona impact The
Corona crisis has a positive impact on the cargo transported via Ostend airport.
During the first 4 months of 2020 the cargo volume rose by 53% to almost 10.000
tons. During April 2020 5.284 tons were handled (+ 186%).
More full freighter aircraft are active worldwide due to the stop of almost all
intercontinental passenger flights (and the cargo space available on these
aircraft)
06/05/2020
Mouth masks at Brussels airport Transport
Minister Bellot has confirmed that the airport is considered a public space,
where the wearing of a face mask is strongly recommended but not mandatory.
Which is logical, considering the low number of passengers that currently pass
through the airport. Brussels Airport considers that the wearing of a face mask
can be made mandatory by the competent authorities prior to the increase in
passenger traffic in the weeks to come. As of 18 May and during the restart of
the airport, Brussels Airport will distribute face masks to all passengers and
staff.
05/05/2020
New Wizz Air service from Brussels South/Charleroi airport Wizz
Air is one of the first European companies to restart operations. Last Friday
the company offers the Wien to Eindhoven service again.
Today the company announced that they will offer a new Brussels South to Wien
service starting on 1 July 2020. The service will be flown 5 times per week.
Wizz Air already operates from Brussels South but. Wien is the first non
East-European destination in their schedule.
05/05/2020
CityJet closed Brussels hub The
Irish company CityJet announced the decision to close their Brussels hub.
CityJet operated several Bombardier CRJ’s for Brussels Airlines. This contract
was stopped several weeks ago at the start of the Covid 19 crisis.
90 people lose their job as a result of this decision. Cityjet offered AMCI
(Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) operations to other airlines but
stopped all its activities due to severe financial problems. (source : De Tijd)
In case you ran out of reading material this is an opportunity not to miss...
30/04/2020
First Dassault Falcon 7X delivered to the Belgian Air Force On
Wednesday 29 April 2020 the Belgian Air Force took delivery of their first
Falcon 7X bizjet. This aircraft gives the Air Force transatlantic capacity. The
aircraft, serial nr 4, is registered on the civil register as OO-LUM. It was
flown from Kortrijk to Melsbroek via touch and go’s at Kleine Brogel AFB and
Beauvechain AFB. It has been in a hangar with Luxaviation/Abelag Aviation at
Kortrijk Airport for several weeks where it was prepared for service.
29/04/2020
Belgian VFR-airspace remains closed The Belgian C.A.A. extended the closure of the Belgian airspace till 18
May 2020 included. All the rules previously communicated remain in force. As a
result almost all General Aviation aircraft remain grounded.
Some pîlots become a little frustated as their Dutch colleagues are still able
to make VFR flights. This resulted in quite some activity in Dutch airspace
during the good weather period last week.
29/04/2020
Execujet Brussels best Belgian FBO In
the FBO (fixed-base operator) survey 2020 organised by Air International News
(AIN) Execujet Brussels (formally known as Abelag Aviation) takes the 23th place
in the ‘rest of the world’ section (excluding the U.S.A.)
Execujet Brussel is the only Belgian FBO in the list and received a 4.13 score.
(max is 5.00) This is 0.01 up compared to the previous survey.
Top European FBO is Farnborough Airport with a 4.67 score. (source AIN April
2020)
28/04/2020
Lufthansa confirms commitment towards Brussels Airlines In
a letter to the Belgian government Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr confirms the
commitment of the German group towards Brussels Airlines. At this moment
Brussels Airlines talks with the Belgian Government about financial support for
the company. They need a financial injection of around 290 milj. Euro in order
to survive the current Covid 19 crisis. In his letter the Lufthansa CEO stresses
the importance of the Lufthansa Group (including Austrian, Eurowings and
Brussels Airlines) in order to remain competitive on the market. Support from
the Belgian government will only be used to support Brussels Airlines. In the
past there has been some doubts about the intentions of the German management
with the Belgian national airline. The Lufthansa Group is, as ‘Star Alliance’
member, responsible for about 50% of the traffic at Brussels Airport. Other
major foreign carriers, also members of ‘Star Alliance’, may leave Brussels
Airport when Lufthansa Group is no longer involved in the Brussels Airlines
operations.
23/04/2020
Brussels Airport welcomes Sun-Air in September Although
we face difficult and uncertain times for aviation, and passenger traffic is
almost at a standstill due to the corona crisis, Brussels Airport is also
looking to the future.
Brussels Airport is pleased to welcome the Danish airline Sun-Air of
Scandinavia, which flies in the colours of British Airways, from September
onwards. Sun-Air will start on 7 September with 10 flights a week between
Billund and Brussels. This will guarantee the connection between Brussels
Airport and the Danish LEGO-city. These flights will be operated with a Dornier
328Jet and you will find them under a British Airways number.
22/04/2020
Aviapartner becomes Belgian again The
chairman of the Aviapartner board, together with some other managers, bought the
company-shares from the American Investment fund H.I.G. Capital. As a result of
this transaction the company becomes Belgian again. The new owners did not wish
to comment on this transaction that was finalized at a moment that the aviation
industrie is in the worst crisis in history.
This may be the moment for the company to change name again and return to
Belgavia ?
(source : l’Echo)
21/04/2020
Oldtimer Fly-in Schaffen/Diest cancelled Belgium’s
most important fly-in, the Schaffen Diest Oldtimer Fly-in, is cancelled due to
the Covid 19 crisis and the ban on major events issued by the federal government
till the end of August 2020. The next edition is planned for 13 – 15 August
2021. The Experimental Days will also skip their 2020 edition. They plan the
next event from 3 till 5 July 2021 at Leopoldsburg/Sanicole airfield.
19/04/2020
Air Antwerp postpones restart Air
Antwerp announced initially their intention to restart the Antwerp to
London/City service on 4 May. Now they announced the intention not to fly till 1
June. Initially two roundtrips per day will be scheduled. CityJet, the major
shareholder of Air Antwerp, received protection against its creditors last
Friday. The company is in serious financial troubles. At this moment it is not
clear if this will have any impact on Air Antwerp.
18/04/2020
Bizjets flights come to a standstill Worldwide business jet flights dipped by as much as 79 percent in
the first two weeks of April compared tot he same period last year. Fractional
ownership felt more steeply than aircraft management and charter operations. In
the first half of April just under 1.000 bizjets were recorded operational
worldwide with more than 4.000 in the same period of 2019. It seems some
operators are offering a 10% discount on flights for smaller bizjets up to 44%
for the bigger aircraft !! (source Ainonline.com)
16/04/2020
Changes in the SN Airholding board Jan
Smets, former Governor of the the Belgian National Bank, became co-president of
the SN Airholding board. He replaces Etienne Davignon. Davignon kept this
position for 18 years but decided to step down as co-president. He remains a
member of the board. Former Brussels Airlines CEO Christina Foerster returns as
member of the SN Airholding
15/04/2020
60% fewer passengers and 14.6% less cargoBrussels
Airport remains open to connect Belgium to the rest of the world under the
safest conditions.
In March, fewer than 800,000 passengers travelled via Brussels Airport. A
considerable drop compared to nearly 2 million passengers in March 2019. The
corona virus caused numbers to drop week after week. The last week of March,
passenger figures showed a decline of 95%. A drop in demand was also noticeable
in cargo transport, which was 14.6% lower than the same month last year. Cargo
is crucial in these times for stocking our country, and thanks to air cargo,
essential products such as pharmaceuticals and medical products can be supplied
quickly. The total number of flights fell by 40%.
14/04/2020
First Melsbroek based Airbus A.400M flies! Yesterday,
13th April, the first (and only) Airbus A.400M ordered by the Luxembourg Armed
Forces made its first flight from the Airbus production facility at Sevilla
(Spain)
This
airframe (c/n 104) will be operated in a joint effort by the Belgian Air Force
and the Luxembourg Armed Forces. It will be based at Melsbroek AFB. when
delivered in the 2e quarter of this year.
12/04/2020
Belgian airspace remains closed for VFR-flight – latest news The
Belgian C.A.A. adapted the regulations regarding the closure of the Belgian
airspace for VFR and training flights that is in force since 18 March 2020. Last
Friday they published a note that allows a monthly 1-hour local flight in order
to prevent extra wear or damage to aircraft engines as a result of the
inactivity of the aircraft involved. As a result, several light aircraft were
airborne on Saturday and others will certainly follow.
10/04/2020
URSEL AVIA 2020 cancelled
This event, planned for 27 and 28 June 2020, is the next victim of Covid 19.
The team behind this event just announced that they had to cancel after
consultation of the local authorities.
They intend to organise the same event in 2021. An exact date is not known at
this moment.
07/04/2020 Our publications are on the way.... Although
we are forced to stay at home due to the corona virus, we are still operational.
The editorial staff has compiled your Aeronews of Belgium and BCARG publications
and they are now in print. Mailing is planned for 15/4/2020.
So you'll soon have something to keep you busy in these strange times.
06/04/2020 Belgian airspace
remains closed for VFR flights The closure of
the Belgian airspace for VFR and training flights that was issued on 18th March
remains in force till 19th April at 23.59 hrs.
Only Police, SAR and medevac flight are allowed as well as maintenance and
pipeline inspection. These rules also apply for remotely piloted aircraft
systems (= drones)
04/04/2020
Lockheed Martin gets F.35 contract for delivery to Belgium De
U.S. Goverment accorded a few days ago a USD22.9 million contract to
Lockheed Martin. This is part of the agreement with the Belgian government,
worth USD 5,1 billion, for the delivery of 34 F.35A fighters. Deliveries are
planned from 2023 till 2030.
03/04/2020 Emirates restarts
flights to Brussels Airport Next
Monday Emirates will restart its flights to four European destinations,
including Brussels. The company will offer three services each week using the
Boeing 777-300ER.
These are the first flights since the company stopped its operations last week.
Only passengers departing from Dubai are accepted as the country closed its
borders to foreign citizens.
The main reason for the restart of these flights is the large cargo capacity of
the Boeing 777. The rates for airfreight rose significantly because a large
number of passenger flights were stopped. This makes it profitable for the
airline to restart some services.
03/04/2020
Sanicole Airshow 2020 cancelled Although
only planned in September of this year, the team behind the annual Sanicole
Airshow already decided to cancel this event for 2020. Bringing together more
than 40.000 people (35% from abroad) in the restricted area of the airfield is
nog a good idea says airshow director Geoffrey Buekenberghs.
The next edition is planned for 10 till 12 September 2021 !
02/04/2020
It should have been a good start... The
start of 2020 looked as promising as the end of 2019 with good occupation of all TUI and Air Antwerp flights.
However it all changed in the blink of an eye when frontiers closed and the
world came to a standstill and Air Antwerp and TUI were forced to keep their
aircraft on the ground. This also reflects on the monthly figures of March. What
should have been a magnificent first quarter is now reduced to an average one,
thanks to corona.
We saw a decline in March of 43,7% compared to the previous year (9.806 pax vs 17.433).
Nevertheless we have a small growth of 0.5% in the first quarter.
01/04/2020
Government support for the TUI Group The
German authorities announced that they will support the TUI Group with a 1,8
bilj. loan that must allow the company to survive the current Corona crisis.
The deal has to be confirmed by a group of financial institutions and the
company will not pay any dividends to the shareholders as long as this loan is
used.
This deal will normally also allow the Belgian branch of the TUI Group to
restart its operations after the Corona crisis is over.
28/03/2020
Air Antwerp plans to restart flights on 4 May 2020 Air
Antwerp announced that they are working on a restart of their flights between
Antwerp Airport and London/City on Monday 4 May 2020. The company stopped its
operations since 22 March.
Customers who booked a seat on a flight between today and the planned restart
can change their reservation free of charge or cancel their booking.
Because of the fast changing situation Air Antwerp keeps his passengers informed
via
https://airantwerp.com/COVID-19-measures/COVID19
21/03/2020
Brussels South Charleroi airport closes down As
from next Wednesday 24 March 20 at 23.59 hrs Brussels South Charleroi Airport
will close the airport terminal for all passengers and airlines. This closure
will continue till, at least, 05 April 20.
Charleroi is the first Belgian airport tot take this decision after more than
90% of the booked passengers do not show up for their flight and the decision of
several European countries, including Belgium, to close the border for foreign
travelers.
19/03/2020
Passenger numbers at Brussels Airport During
February 2020, 1,738,988 passengers passed through Brussels Airport, which
represents a 6% rise compared to the same month last year. This growth is seen
both in the number of originating passengers and in the number of transfer
passengers. It is worth pointing out however that February 2019 witnessed a
nationwide strike on 13 February which kept all aircraft on the ground. February
2020 in turn had an extra day (29/02) as well as the mid-term break, which in
last year fell in March. Which to a large extent explains last month’s results.
As such, the result for February as a whole is lower than forecasted. Without
the effect of the leap day and the mid-term break, growth would have been
negative. March points towards a substantial decline in passenger numbers, duet
o the Corona crisis.
18/03/2020
Temporary suspension of flights Due
to the Corona virus, Brussels Airlines has decided to suspend all flights
between March 21st and April 19th, 2020. Air
Antwerp announces that they will suspend their Antwerp-London City route from
March 22nd till April 10th, 2020.
We do hope that the companies survive this setback in already difficult
times and that all personnel can return to their jobs in good health.
09/03/2020
New sales for Sonaca 200 trainer An
accredited training organization (member of the Swiss Flight School Association,
Swiss PSA), Aero Locarno has chosen the Sonaca 200 to complete and renew its
fleet of training aircraft. Following a comparative study, Aero Locarno decided
to choose Sonaca Aircraft's two-seater single-engine aircraft. “The Sonaca
200 clearly stands out from the crowd!” bluntly stated Stefano Buratti, Aero
Locarno CEO. “With its aluminum structure, the Sonaca 200 is a robust and
easy-to-repair trainer aircraft. Stable and agile, the aircraft proved to be
easy to fly even in turbulent conditions. The Sonaca 200 is a spacious and
comfortable aircraft with optimal visibility on board. We have found our new
aircraft for basic training!”. Aero Locarno is Sonaca Aircraft’s first Swiss customer. “We are convinced
that the Sonaca 200 has its rightful place in Switzerland" said Pierre Van
Wetter, Chief Commercial Officer of Sonaca Aircraft “The engine and high
rates of climb are particularly well suited to mountain flying, regardless of
the aircraft's payload.”
04/03/2020 Excellent results for Antwerp Airport February
2020 was a very good month for Antwerp Airport. 18.827 passengers used the
airport, a rise with 22.20% compared to the same month in 2019.
These good results were achieved thanks to the Antwerp to London/City service
operated by Air Antwerp and the very good results on the TUI Fly service to
Innsbruck. This destination is very popular with people who like to spend their
holiday in the snow.
The results could have even been better, but the winterstorms during two
weekends in February resulted in some diverted flights and even some
cancellations. The Airport management remains vigilant regarding the coming
months. The Corona virus will, almost certainly, result in a reduced number of
passengers.
12/02/2020
New ownership for Sabca The
Belgian aviation company Sabca has new owners. Sabena Aerospace and FPIM bought
the company from Dassault Aviation for 75 mil. Euro’s. FPIM the an investment
company controlled by the Belgian government. Sabena Aerospace will have 50% + 1
share in this new joint-venture.
08/01/2019
Good results for Air Antwerp Air
Antwerp is flying the Antwerp – London/City route for four months now. During
this period the company carried almost 15.000 passengers with their single
Fokker 50. During December 2019 the company transported 4.179 passengers. That
is a number that VLM never achieved in the past. Air Antwerp plans to have
around 50.000 passengers per year.
At this moment the company offers 16 return flights per week between Antwerpen
and London/City. There are three services on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday and two daily flights on Tuesday and Sunday.
With only 15 employees Air Antwerp is one of the smallest airlines in Europe.
03/01/2020
Air Belgium
will fly for LOTThe Polish
national airline LOT announced the lease of two Air Belgium A.340 aircraft
during the first 10 months of 2020. The aircraft will be used on the Warschau to
Toronto service. The deal also includes not only the aircraft but also the (Air
Belgium) crew.
The two other Air Belgium A.340’ s are used on their own services to Guadeloupe
and Martinique. Also Surinam Airways regularly uses an Air Belgium aircraft on
their service between Paramaribo and Amsterdam/Schiphol.
02/01/2020
Best year ever for Antwerp Airport During
2019 some 306.330 passengers found their way through Antwerp Airport. This is an
all time high and a confirmation that Antwerp airport is worth investing in.
On time performance (OTP) in Antwerp is 98,3%, which ranks it among the best
performing airports in Europe.
Congratulations to all personnel, crews and management for their continuing
efforts.
24/12/2019
More Icelandair Cargo flights at Liège-Bierset Icelandair
signed a contract with Fedex and TNT regarding their parcel shipments to and
from Iceland. The new contract starts early January 2020. As a result,
Icelandair Cargo will fly up to seven times per week to Liège-Bierset. This
airport is a major European hub for Fedex and TNT.
17/12/2019
Additional Air Antwerp flight on Sunday Starting
on 22 December Air Antwerp will offer a second flight between Antwerp Airport
and London/City on Sunday. Air Antwerp noticed that the demand for seats on
Sunday is higher than expected. With this additional service the company hopes
to reach more customers who visited family or friends as well as
business-travelers going to Antwerp or London on Sunday in order to start
working early the next morning.
During the the Christmas period the 14.15hr flight will not be flown on Tuesday.
15/12/2019
Transavia flights (2) Transavia
announced earlier that it will offer flights from Brussels Airport during the
coming summerseason. Destinations will be Alicante and Ibiza in Spain, Verona in
Italy, Corfu, Heraklion and Thessaloniki in Greece, as well as Tel Aviv, Agadir
and Faro. The
company will offer a total op 28 flights per week.
12/12/2019
Transavia offers flights from Brussels Airport Starting
with the coming summerseason Air France/KLM daughter Transavia will offer nine
routes from Brussels Airport. It was expected that the airline would base some
aircraft at Brussels and so open a base at the airport. But this rumour was
denied by the company.
11/12/2019
New CEO at Brussels Airlines Dieter
Vranckx has been appointed new CEO of Brussels Airlines. He will also be Chief
Commercial Officer of the company. Dieter will start in his new function on
January 1st, 2020.
24/11/2019 TUI Fly will
restart service to Miami Starting
on 4 april 2020 TUI fly will offer again a twice weekly service between Brussel
and Miami (Florida) using a Boeing 787. These flight will be operated on Tuesday
and Saturday. TUI Fly already flew the same route earlier this year but stopped
on 1 September 2019.
12/11/2019
Government funding of Antwerp Airport The
European Commission has no objections against government funding of Antwerp and
Ostend airport. They consider the funding as good for the development of the
citizens mobility and the development of the Flemish region.
The airport offers jobs to more than 1.000 people.
Between 2014 and 2018 the number of passengers has risen from 121.357 to
298.403.
07/11/2019
Brussels Airlines has to reduce costs Brussels
Airlines has to reduce the costs with about 160 milj. Euros per year against
2022. That is about 10% of the annual costs. In order to achieve this goal the
company announced that they will try to become a smaller, more profitable
airline. The impact of this decision on the workforce, the fleet and the current
routes is not clear at this moment.
All this effort must result in an 8% profit from 2022.
Austrian Airlines,
another Lufthansa-daughter, has to perform the same type of exercise in order to
realise a reduction of the costs with (only) 90 milj. Euros per year.
28/10/2019
New route for Ryanair at Charleroi airport As
from today, Ryanair will connect Brussels South/Charleroi airport with Tel Aviv.
The service will be flown on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with Boeing
737-800. Tickets available on: www.ryanair.com
26/10/2019
Air Antwerp - KLM code share Air
Antwerp has signed a codeshare contract with KLM for the routes between
Amsterdam and Manchester, Newcastle and Heathrow. Flights will be executed by
KLM but Air Antwerp WP code will also be applied and can be booked via their
website. This way Air Antwerp can expand its income base without further costs.
25/10/2019
Daily service to Malaga from Antwerp As
from the Easter holidays, TUI will fly daily services from Antwerp to Malaga. In
2015 the company announced a twice weekly schedule and now 5 years later the
frequency rises to 7 times. It the company's first destination ever that is
flown daily out of Antwerp.
15/10/2019
New record for Antwerp Airport 34.732
passengers used the airport during September (some 10.000 more than during
September 2018). This increase is due to some new routes flown by TUI and of
course the start of Air Antwerp on the new Antwerp-London City service.
Another positive note : 97,7% of the flights departed on their scheduled time.
09/10/2019
Daily flights to Kinshasa As
from last week, Brussels Airlines is again flying daily to Kinshasa. The company
also introduces its new Premium Economy class on its African routes.
Brussels Airlines perform 84 weekly flights to 17 African countries.
26/09/2019
Brussels Airlines suffers from Thomas Cook collapse. As
a result the the collapse of the Thomas Cook Group, Brussels Airlines announced
that it will cancel 105 flights planned for Oktober 2019. Although the Belgian
Thomas Cook branch works hard on a restart, all planned and booked holidays and
flights were cancelled.
Rhodos, Djerba and Enfidha will disappear as destinations. Flights to other
holiday destinations will be reduced. Brussels Airlines will look for
alternative solutions for about 3.500 passengers who booked seats on the
cancelled flights via other sources. This situation will definitely impact the
plans Brussels Airlines made in order the achieve a 8% profit. This is part of
the deal with Lufthansa when they allowed the company to continue as an
independant airline earlier this year.
20/09/2019
Emirates present in Belgium for 5 years Emirates
celebrates 5 years of acitivity at Brussels Airport. They started in 2014. Today
they offer two flights each day between Brussels and Dubai using Boeing 777-300
ER aircraft. The first flight (EK184) leaves Brussels at 15.05 hrs and arrives
at Dubai at 23.40 hrs local time. The second flight (EK182) starts at21.45 hrs
local time and arrives the next morning at 06.15 hrs in Dubai. During these 5
years the company flew around 1.2 milj. Passengers on this route.
Emirates Cargo transported more than 128.000 tons from and to Belgium. Since
January 2018 the company flew around 4.000 tons of pharmaceutical cargo to and
from Brussels Airport. The company also flew 80 special ‘horses-cargo’ flights
into Liège/Bierset airport carrying 3.500 animals.
The company has 230 Belgian
employees, including 88 pilots and 23 flight attendants. 38 of these pilots fly
on the Airbus A.380.
16/09/2019
KLM reduces flights to Brussels KLM
will reduce the number of daily flights between Amsterdam and Brussels from five
to four. KLM stated that it will promote the Thalys train for the trip between
these two cities. Rumour has it that KLM needs the slot at Schiphol airport for
an additional long-haul flight.
16/09/2019
Air Belgium will fly to Martinique Starting
on 7 December Air Belgium will start a scheduled service from Charleroi/Brussels
South to Martinique. This flights will be operated by the Airbus A.340’s
operated by Air Belgium. There will be two return flights each week. In the past the company tried to start a scheduled service to Hong Kong but
these flight where stopped very soon after the start. Martinique seems to be a
popular destination for holiday-makers who book their trips via travel agencies
in the French speaking part of the country.
20/05/2019
Air Antwerp has been founded In
Antwerp a new airline has been founded by the Dutch KLM and the Irish CityJet.
Air Antwerp, as the company is called plans to operate one Fokker 50 out of
Antwerp to three different destinations, of which one is London City. If all
goes as planned, services could start in the second half of 2019.
We wish the company all the best.
28/05/2020
Covid 19 contact tracing The
Taskforce Lichte Luchtvaart (Taskforce Light Aviation) asks all pilots to keep a
log of all persons with whom they had contact when making a flight (names and
functions and, if possible, mobile nrs). This will help to return General
Aviation to ‘normal’ as soon as possible. The idea is to safe the list for about
3 to 4 months. It can then be destroyed when no contaminations have been
reported.
24/05/2020
Ryanair plans a restart on 21 June As
from Sunday 21 June Ryanair will offer a limited number of flights from Brussels
and Charleroi/Brussels South.
At this moment the company operates only one single service from a Belgian
airport, between Brussels and Dublin.
From early July the company plans to add flights to other destinations and
increase the frequency on other services. The idea is to offer, at that moment,
around 1.000 daily flights on the complete Ryanair network.
20/05/2020
BSCA resuming flights Brussels
South Charleroi Airport announced today that commercial flights will be resumed
on June 15th, 2020. All precautions have been taken to safeguard personnel and
travellers.
14/05/2020
Additional money for regional airports The
Flemish government has granted additional subsidies for the airports of Antwerp
and Ostend. Antwerp will receive an extra 300.000 eur and of course our "green
friends" are disappointed.
11/05/2020
Brussels Airlines to take drastic measures Our
number one carrier Brussels Airlines has announced that drastic measures will
have to be taken in order to survive the corona pandemic. 1.000 persons (25%)
will be fired as a result of the downsizing of the fleet by 30%. Brussels
Airlines also hopes to get financial aid from the Belgian government as well as
the main shareholder Lufthansa.
07/05/2020
Decline in flights over Belgium Eurocontrol
gives very interesting info on their website regarding the decline of airline
traffic over Belgium and our neighboring countries. Traffic over Belgium went
down with as much as 85%
Have a look at
https://www.eurocontrol.int/covid19
06/06/2020
Antwerp Airport traffic figures During
April 2020 the airport handled 96 !! passengers, pilots not included. The impact
of the Covid 19 pandemic is enormous. There were 325 movements (essential
flights as well as inspection and maintenance flights) compared to 3.139 last
year.
05/05/2020
N.H.V. awarded offshore contract from Blackpool (UK) NHV
Group today announced a new long-term contract with Spirit Energy to provide
passenger transfer services in support of their East Irish Sea operations. The
operations are foreseen to start in December 2020 and will depart from Blackpool
(UK). NHV’s team will fly an AW169 helicopter to support the service.
NHV already gained experience with the AW169 helicopter type in Norway, where
they operate the AW169 in support of the Norwegian Coastal Agency’s operations
since 2017. Mike Gislam, Accountable Manager for NHV in the UK, commented: “We
are honoured to be chosen aviation partner for Spirit’s East Irish Sea
Operations. NHV continues to invest in fleet and training to take on unique
projects just like this one."
01/05/2020
Brussels South/Charleroi airport studies possible reopening Brussels
South/Charleroi airport closed its terminal on 24 March 2020 with the intention
to restart the activities on 3th May.
Now the airport management communicated that they are looking at a possible
restart early June. One of the important factors in a reopening is a decision by
the national security council allowing Belgian citizens to travel abroad again.
Also the different airlines operating from the airport still a have to announce
their plans.
29/04/2020
Brussels Airlines flights suspended Brussels
Airlines today announced that they will suspend their scheduled flight till June
1st, due to the ongoing corona pandemic. However some aircraft are kept on
stand-by for repatriation and/or humanitarian flights.
All 4.200 employees are kept in technical unemployment.
29/04/2020
Booming business at Liège/Bierset airport Liège/Bierset
airport is one of the rare airports were the impact of the Covid 19/Corona
crisis is almost invisible. It may even have a positive impact.
Shipping cargo in the belly of passenger aircraft came to a standstill. As a
result the prices for cargo on full-freighter aircraft went up from about 1
euro/kg to between 4 and 5 euro/kg. This means at all available cargo aircraft
are flying at this moment.
Liège airport handled 6% more freight during March 2020 than in the same month
of 2019. Every week about 650 cargo flights are handled or about 4 every hour !!
24/04/2020
‘Sonic boom’ over Limburg Yesterday
a ‘sonic boom’ could be heard over Limburg. During a test flight after
maintenance a Belgian Air Force testpilot accelerated his F.16 though the sound
barrier. Belgian Defense announced this flight to the neighbourhood of Kleine
Brogel AFB in order to avoid any anxiety among the people living in the area.
(source : www.internetgazet.be)
22/04/2020
Thai Airways also delays start-up Thai
Airways announced that it will not restart the Bangkok to Brussel service before
early July. Earlier the company intended to restart this service early June. At
this moment three weekly flights are planned (Tuesday, Friday en Sunday). Before
the Covid 19 crisis the company offered six weekly flights
20/04/2020
Grounded airliners Brussels
Airport take the 16th place in an overview published by Eurocontrol regarding
the number of parked and inactive airliners. 78 aircraft are parked (including
43 Brussels Airlines and 23 TUI aircraft). Aircraft kept in stand by are not
included in this numbers.
For more details look at
https://ansperformance.eu/covid/acft_ground/
This website gives more interesting insights regarding aircraft types and
companies involved.
18/04/2020
Mon Van Gestel passed away We
were informed that Mon Van Gestel passed away last Friday. He became 90 years
old last January. Mon was involved in the founding of Aeroclub Keiheuvel and
was, for years, the chief instructor at Keiheuvel. The number of pilots he
trained must be very important. He will always be remembered for his ‘crazy
flying’ demo at the annual Keiheuvel airshow disguised as a missionary who just
started his flight training.
Blue skies Mon! (photo Archives ASA/Georges Van Belleghem)
17/04/2020
Sint Niklaas annual balloon event cancelled The annual Balloon event at Sint Niklaas that takes place
during the first weekend of September as part of the Vredesfeesten has been
cancelled. For the first time since 1948 there will fly no balloons from the
market place in the city-center this year !
14/04/2020
Liège-Bierset airport becomes WHO hub The
World Health Organisation (WHO) has appointed Liège-Bierset airport as the
European hub for the transport of medical equipment related to the Corona/Covid
19 epidemic. The airport will be used to transport up to 100 milj. mouth masks
and gloves, 25 milj. ventilators and 2,5 milj. testkists. The WHO stated that
the airport was chosen for its central location and its 24/24 hrs operations.
13/04/2020
Etihad Airways will also restart flights to Brussels Airport Abu
Dhabi based Etihad Airways announced that it will restart flights to several
European destinations, including Brussels. Abu Dhabi offers passengers that are
blocked in Abu Dhabi due to the Covid 19-restrictions the possibility to go
home. But, the main raison for the restart is the cargo business, especially the
transport of fresh products.
11/04/2020
Brussels Airlines cancels 8 destinations Brussels
Airlines announced that it will not restart services to 8 European destinations
before the 2021 summer schedule. These cities are Sevilla, Valencia, Bristol,
Hannover, Billund, Marrakech, Santorini and even Moskou. As a result of this
decision the lease of five Bombardier CRJ.900’s was stopped. These aircraft were
returned to CityJet. Brussels Airlines said that it is not clear, at this
moment, which services will be restarted first on 15th May. This depends on the
permissions received from the countries involved.
08/04/2020
ASL starts construction of new GAT terminal at Liège/Bierset Early
April bizjet operator A.S.L. started the ground work for the construction of
their new hangar and G.A.T. terminal at Liège/Bierset Airport. This is a major
project for this company that is also finishing a new hangar at Antwerp Airport.
06/04/2020
Brussels Airlines delays restart Brussels
Airlines announced that they will not restart their services until, at least, 15
May 2020. When starting again, there will only be a restricted number of
services available.
Some aircraft remain available for flights to bring stranded Belgian citizens
home. Airbus A.330 – OO-SFE – was very active the previous days making flight
from Brussels to Kinshasa and Lubumbashi on 1 April. A flight Brussels – Abidjan
– Conakry – Brussels on 4 April and a service Brussel – Freetown – Monrovia –
Brussel on 5 April 2020.
Passengers on cancelled flights can chose a new date to travel till 31 August
2020. The trip can be delayed till 30 April 2021.
03/04/2020
‘Renationalisation’ of Brussels Airlines is an option LN24,
a French speaking news agency, announced that the Belgian governement is
studying a possible renationalisation of Brussels Airlines.
A group of experts including the president of the Belgian National Bank is
looking at this option.
The company needs between 200 and 290 milj. Euro’s to stay operational. There
are major concerns about the actions Lufthansa will be prepared to take after
the Corona crisis. They will have to solve major issues to stay in business
themselves. So, the survival of their affiliates will, probably, not have the
highest priority.
The Belgian government expects additional information from the Germans.
Brussels Airlines is seen as a company that is essential for the Belgian
economy. 3.500 people are working for the company that is also very important
for Brussels Airport and the Belgian tourist related businesses.
Other European countries take the same steps regarding their national airlines.
02/04/2020
Brussels Airport closed A-terminal Last
Monday the Brussels Airport management decided to close the A-terminal. This
terminal is normally used for intra Schengen flight only. Due to the very
limited number of flights at this moment all aircraft and passengers are handled
from the B-terminal.
31/03/2020
Brussels South Charleroi Airport prepares reopening Brussels
South Charleroi Airport intends to restart commercial flights from Monday 4 May
2020. This date is based on information from the National Security Board and
from the initial planning made by the airlines involved.
The airport hopes to confirm this date later. Today only medical flights as well
as flights related to maintenance activities are accepted.
20/03/2020
Antwerp Airport remains open On
Sunday March 22nd, all regular flights will come to a halt. There are no
training, nor VFR flights but the airport will remain open with minimal
occupation. All service and administrations will be available apart from the
navigation office. The airport building remains open to the public but social
distancing has to be respected.
19/03/2020
Repatriation of Belgian citizens Brussels
Airlines has planned 56 special flights to repatriate 9.500 Belgians, stuck in
14 different countries. Although all flights will be suspended between March
21st and April 19th, 2020, the company will remain on stand-by in case
additional repatriation flights need to be executed.
A big thumbs up to all personnel. Keep it safe and healthy.
18/03/2020 Belgian airspace closed for VFR traffic
As part of the Covid 19 mesures taken by the Belgian government the Belgian
airspace will close for all training and VFR flights from 11am GMT on 18 March
2020 till 11am GMT on 5 April 2020. The only flights allowed
under VFR conditions are medical, police and SAR operations as well as pipeline
inspections.
04/03/2020
Brussels Airlines to move to new Brandenburg Airport Starting
November 8th, all companies of the Lufthansagroup will move their operations
from Berlin/Tegel (TXL) to the new Berlin/Brandenburg airport (BER). All
reservations will be transferred automatically and free of charge.
Brussels Airlines' first flight will be at 6:50 (SN2592).
26/02/2020
Corona virus impacts Brussels Airport Cathay
Pacific cancelled more than 50% of all its flight during February and March due
to the impact of the Corona virus on air travel. Also the flights to Brussels
are impacted . For March to company reduced the number of flights to around 60%
of the initial number. Only seven flight are planned. Two flight per week during
the first two weeks of March and only one service during the remaining weeks of
the month. Normally the company offers 18 flights per month.
03/01/2020
TUI Airlines Belgium adds two Balkan destinations to its network During the coming summer TUI will offer flights to two new destinations
: Ohrid in North Macedonia and Pula, Istria in Croatia.
The Balkan destinations are very popular with already 25% more bookings compared
to last year. Ohrid will be flown every
Saturday starting on 6 June 2020. Pula will be served twice each week (Wednesday
and Saturday) from 5 April 2020.
24/12/2019
Aeroflot code-share agreement Brussels
Airlines and Aeroflot Russian Airlines have signed as code-share agreement to
give passengers more flexibility and choice for their flights between Brussels
and Moscow. Ticket sales will start as from January 20th, 2020.
17/12/2019
Singapore Airlines will reappear at Brussels Airport Singapore
Airlines announced that it will restart a Singapore to Brussel service from 25
Oktober 2020 using the Airbus A.350. Singapore Airlines offered this connection
in the past but stopped it in 2003. The new service will be available four times
per week. The Airbus A.350 offers 253 seats including 42 in Business Class
12/12/2019
Christina Förster leaves Brussels Airlines Brussels
Airlines C.E.O. Christina Föster announced that she will leave the company at
the end of this year. She was promoted to C.E.O. in April 2018 after being
commercial director of the company.
Föster returns to Germany where she will become a board-member of the Lufthansa
Group responsible for Customer & Corporate Responsibility.
11/12/2019
Brussels Airlines and TUI join strength As
from Christmas 2019 Brussels Airlines will operate one of its Airbus A320 on
behalf of TUI Airlines. TUI currently has capacity problems due to the B7373MAX
issues.
13/11/2019
Building works at Antwerp Airport On
Monday last, builders started on the demolition of the old Sabena and Swissport
hangars and Ziegler offices on the parking at Antwerp airport. These are being
removed in order to free up space for additional parking spaces.
In 2020 the existing parking 3 will disappear, to make space for the busses
maintenance and storage facility of the 'De Lijn'.
08/11/2019
Best month in the history of Liege Airport! In
these challenging times with air cargo volumes being down all over the world,
Liege Airport is going against the trend.
It has the best month in its history - almost 84,000 tonnes in October 2019 -
bringing the volume up to 730,000 tonnes for the first 10 months of 2019 with 2
peak months to go.
Besides being the highest monthly volume October 2019 also showed the highest
import volume ever, making up 51% of the volume.
31/10/2019
Another C.130 retired Last
week, Lockheed C.130H – CH03 – was withdrawn from service. This aircraft served
with the Belgian Air Force for over 47 years !! The final mission was a trip tot
he U.S.A. with included visits to Memphis and Las Vegas. (photo : ASA/Georges Van Belleghem coll.)
27/10/2019
Laudamotion welcomed at Charleroi airport This
morning the Airbus A320 of Laudamotion landed for the first time at Brussels
South Charleroi airport. The new service between Vienna and Charleroi will be
flown 6x weekly.
Tickets are available on the website http://www.laudamotion.com
25/10/2019
New destinations for Ostend airport TUI
today also anounced that they will fly twice weekly to Murcia (Wednesday and
Saturday) as from the next summer season starting with the Easter holidays. In
July and August the company guarantees also direct flights to Tenerife and Gran
Canaria, a nice gain in travel time.
09/10/2019
No lease of aircraft for Government Only
last month, the Government decided to dry-lease two VIP aircraft to replace the
aircraft currently operated by Defence.
The contract was assigned to Abelag Aviation by minister of Defence Didier
Reynders for an amount of 124 miljon euro over 12 years. Flying Group disputed
the contract before the 'Raad van State' as several errors were made in the
procedure.
Today Defence has announced that the contract will not go through. To be
continued....
01/10/2019
New destination for Brussels Airlines. After
the demise of Adria Airways Brussels airport lost its connection with the
Slovenian capital Ljubljana. As from 4th November Brussels Airlines will add
this city as a new destination to its network. This route will be flown six days
each week (not on Saturday)
21/09/2019
Sonaca Aircraft fully operational at Temploux On
Friday 20 September 2019 Sonaca Airport inaugurated their brand new facility at
Temploux airport. The 2.000 m³ hangar includes the assembly line for the Sonaca
200 and 201 aircraft as well as offices for the supporting departments. On
Saturday morning the Sonaca management gave more details regarding their future
plans to the aviation press. More details in the next issue of Aeronews of
Belgium.
19/09/2019
Wizz Air will fly to Brussels Airport Hungarian
carrier Wizz Air will launch a daily Brussels to Budapest service from 1 June
2020. This service will be operated by newly delivered Airbus A.321neo aircraft.
16/09/2019
Belgian companies sign F.35 contracts During the annual Sanicole airshow on 15 September 2019 two Belgian
compagnies, Sabca and Ilias Solutions, signed a contract with Lockheed Martin.
These contracts are related to the Belgian Air Force order for 34 Lockheed
Martin F.35 fighters.Sabca
will construct certain parts and will be involved in the maintenance of these
new aircraft. Ilias Solutions is a company specialising in logistic software
solutions.
27/07/2019
First aircraft for Air Antwerp registered On 25/07/2019 the ex VLM Fokker F50, OO-VLS, was registered in the name of Air
Antwerp on the Belgian civil register. The aircraft arrived at Antwerp airport
on 27/07/2019 and will remain there a couple of days for training purposes. It
is painted in the airline's colourfull livery, with a stilized hand as logo.
This hand makes the link with Antwerp and it's famous Brabo statue.
The aircraft will return by the end of August and will participate in the static
display on 7 & 8 September.
(photo: Paul Soons)
22/05/2019
2nd Pilatus PC.24 for NextGen On
behalf of an undisclosed client, NexGen Aviation
has signed for a 2nd Pilatus PC-24 to join their fleet during 2020.
09/05/2019
TUI Fly Pilot Academy In
2017 TUI Fly founded its Pilot Academy which proposes a unique course to become
first officer after 39 months at a low rate. TUI invested more than a million
euro in the academy.
25/03/2019
New ownership for Brussels Airport The
Australian investment company Macquarie sold its shares in Brussels Airport to
another Australian investor, QIC, the insurance company Swiss Life and the Dutch
pension fund APG. According to some unofficial sources they paid about 2 billion
Euros.
The Canadian pension fund OTPP remains the largest shareholder (39%) followed by
the Belgian government. APG and QIC both acquired 16.8 %. Swiss Life owns 2.4 %
of the total shares in Brussels Airport
21/03/2019
Brussels Airlines leases two Czech Airlines Airbus A.319’s The
summer schedule will start on 31th March. From this date Brussels Airlines will
operate two Airbus A.319’s leased from Czech Airlines. These aircraft will
operate the scheduled flights to Boedapest, Praag and Toulouse. This lease will
continue till the end of June.
20/03/2019
Annual European biz-aircraft ranking Belgium takes the 11th place in the annual biz-aircraft ranking
published by BART International. According to this study a total of 104 aircraft
is operated from Belgium. This number can be split into 59 bizjets and 45
turboprop aircraft. Leading European country is (again) Germany with 750
aircraft. Unsurprisingly the U.S.A. is the world’s number one country for
biz-aircraft with an amazing 21.339 airframes.
14/03/2019
Air Belgium flights to Hong Kong abandonned Air
Belgium announces that they will not re-activate their flights to Hong Kong on
March 31st, 2019.
They will now focus on the mainland of China, starting this summer and the USA
starting in Winter 2019.
30/01/2019
Additional Ryanair service at Brussels South Charleroi Ryanair
announced that it will fly from Brussels South Charleroi Airport to Beziers Cap
d’Agde in southern France from 2 april 2019. This service will be flown three
times per week. Ryanair now offers flights to 12 destinations in France from
Brussels South Charleroi. These are Bergerac, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Carcassonne,
Figari, La Rochelle, Marseille, Nimes, Perpignan, Rodez and Toulouse.
30/01/2019
TUI fly Belgium will operate Airbus A.320’s During
the coming three years, TUI fly Belgium will lease four Airbus A.320’s from the
Estonian carrier SmartLynx. Last year they already used three of their aircraft
during the summer season. TUI Fly was pleased with the cooperation and will use
an additional SmartLynx A.320. These aircraft can seat 180 passengers.
28/01/2019
New hall for Aerocircular Aerocircular,
the company that dismantled the last VLM Fokker 50 at Antwerp, is to build a new
hall at Ostend airport.After completion of the first fase (the construction of
the concrete carrying surface), Aerocircular will construct a steel fabric
structural hall of 4500 sqm where two narrow body aircraft can be placed at the
same time and dismantled indoors. The goal is to dismantle 25 aircraft per year.
28/01/2019
ASL Group orders 2 Sonaca 200 training aircraft ASL
Group offers private and charter flights through Europe. Together with
JetNetherlands, the group operates 30 aircraft ranging from 4 to 30 passengers.
The group also owns a maintenance organisation based at Rotterdam and founded,
very recently, an ATO training organisation. The group wants to expand its pilot
training facilities (ab initio) and specific training focused on bizjet
operations. In order to support his activity ASL group ordered two Sonaca 200
aircraft. With this order the company supports this Belgian designed new
training aircraft. The operational and maintenance costs of the Sonaca 200 were
also instrumental in this choice.
The two aircraft will be ‘Sonaca 200 Trainer Pro’ aircraft fitted with Garmin
G500 TXI – first delivery is planned for Oktober 2019.
16/01/2019
From Brussels to Porto with Air Portugal Air
Portugal announced that it will start a twice daily service between Brussels
Airport and Porto from 1 July 2019. The morning flight will leave at 11.10 hrs
local time. The evening connection at 21.45 hrs. All flights will be operated
with Embraer Emb.190 aircraft.
15/01/2019
Brussels Airlines adapts luggage rules on African destinations Brussels
Airlines reduces the number of bags on their flights to African destinations.
Ecomony passagers can check in only one bag.
Passengers who want to take more luggage with them, will have to buy a more
expensive ticket.
Tickets with one piece of luggage are for sale for 17 African destinations.
Prices start at 385 euros.
14/01/2019
Over 34 million passengers travelled safely thanks to skeyes In
2018 skeyes, the national air navigation service provider,
guided 1,101,145 aircraft in the Belgian airspace and at the
Belgian airports. For the first time in history skeyes
managed more than 600,000 overflights above our country and
Luxembourg. All together more than 34 million passengers and
around 1.6 million tons of cargo are concerned. Those too
are record numbers.
14/01/2019
Record number of passengers for Brussels Airport Brussels
Airport handled a record 25.7 milj. passengers during 2018. That is 3.6 % more
than in 2017. The number of long-haul destinations went up and this explains an
important part of this result. The replacement of the Avro RJ.100 by the larger
Airbus A.320 in the Brussels Airlines fleet realised the rise on European
destinations.
The number of passengers travelling from Brussels Airport went up with 4.3%. 18%
of the total were transfert-passengers.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
&
EVENTS
20th
Antwerp Aviation Fair
NIEUWE DATUM 3/10/2020
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Until
today all VFR activities are prohibited with the exception of a monthly
maintenance flight for each aircraft and some special activities (pipeline
control, medevac, …)
Wizz
Air is one of the first European companies to restart operations. Last Friday
the company offers the Wien to Eindhoven service again.
%20TABS%20-%20COVD-19%20Spring%20OD%20Adv.jpg)
Belgium’s
most important fly-in, the Schaffen Diest Oldtimer Fly-in, is cancelled due to
the Covid 19 crisis and the ban on major events issued by the federal government
till the end of August 2020. The next edition is planned for 13 – 15 August
2021. The Experimental Days will also skip their 2020 edition. They plan the
next event from 3 till 5 July 2021 at Leopoldsburg/Sanicole airfield.
Air
Antwerp announced initially their intention to restart the Antwerp to
London/City service on 4 May. Now they announced the intention not to fly till 1
June. Initially two roundtrips per day will be scheduled. CityJet, the major
shareholder of Air Antwerp, received protection against its creditors last
Friday. The company is in serious financial troubles. At this moment it is not
clear if this will have any impact on Air Antwerp.-1280x1280.jpg)
-1280x1280.jpg)
Although
we are forced to stay at home due to the corona virus, we are still operational.
The editorial staff has compiled your Aeronews of Belgium and BCARG publications
and they are now in print. Mailing is planned for 15/4/2020. 
De
U.S. Goverment accorded a few days ago a USD22.9 million contract to
Lockheed Martin. This is part of the agreement with the Belgian government,
worth USD 5,1 billion, for the delivery of 34 F.35A fighters. Deliveries are
planned from 2023 till 2030. 
Next
Monday Emirates will restart its flights to four European destinations,
including Brussels. The company will offer three services each week using the
Boeing 777-300ER.
Although
only planned in September of this year, the team behind the annual Sanicole
Airshow already decided to cancel this event for 2020. Bringing together more
than 40.000 people (35% from abroad) in the restricted area of the airfield is
nog a good idea says airshow director Geoffrey Buekenberghs. 
An
accredited training organization (member of the Swiss Flight School Association,
Swiss PSA), Aero Locarno has chosen the Sonaca 200 to complete and renew its
fleet of training aircraft. Following a comparative study, Aero Locarno decided
to choose Sonaca Aircraft's two-seater single-engine aircraft. “The Sonaca
200 clearly stands out from the crowd!” bluntly stated Stefano Buratti, Aero
Locarno CEO. “With its aluminum structure, the Sonaca 200 is a robust and
easy-to-repair trainer aircraft. Stable and agile, the aircraft proved to be
easy to fly even in turbulent conditions. The Sonaca 200 is a spacious and
comfortable aircraft with optimal visibility on board. We have found our new
aircraft for basic training!”.
The
Belgian aviation company Sabca has new owners. Sabena Aerospace and FPIM bought
the company from Dassault Aviation for 75 mil. Euro’s. FPIM the an investment
company controlled by the Belgian government. Sabena Aerospace will have 50% + 1
share in this new joint-venture.
The Polish
national airline LOT announced the lease of two Air Belgium A.340 aircraft
during the first 10 months of 2020. The aircraft will be used on the Warschau to
Toronto service. The deal also includes not only the aircraft but also the (Air
Belgium) crew.
Icelandair
signed a contract with Fedex and TNT regarding their parcel shipments to and
from Iceland. The new contract starts early January 2020.
Eurocontrol
gives very interesting info on their website regarding the decline of airline
traffic over Belgium and our neighboring countries. Traffic over Belgium went
down with as much as 85%
NHV
Group today announced a new long-term contract with Spirit Energy to provide
passenger transfer services in support of their East Irish Sea operations. The
operations are foreseen to start in December 2020 and will depart from Blackpool
(UK). NHV’s team will fly an AW169 helicopter to support the service. 
Abu
Dhabi based Etihad Airways announced that it will restart flights to several
European destinations, including Brussels. Abu Dhabi offers passengers that are
blocked in Abu Dhabi due to the Covid 19-restrictions the possibility to go
home. But, the main raison for the restart is the cargo business, especially the
transport of fresh products.
Early
April bizjet operator A.S.L. started the ground work for the construction of
their new hangar and G.A.T. terminal at Liège/Bierset Airport. This is a major
project for this company that is also finishing a new hangar at Antwerp Airport.
%20PS.jpg)
On
beha
Aerocircular,
the company that dismantled the last VLM Fokker 50 at Antwerp, is to build a new
hall at Ostend airport.After completion of the first fase (the construction of
the concrete carrying surface), Aerocircular will construct a steel fabric
structural hall of 4500 sqm where two narrow body aircraft can be placed at the
same time and dismantled indoors. The goal is to dismantle 25 aircraft per year.
Air
Portugal announced that it will start a twice daily service between Brussels
Airport and Porto from 1 July 2019. The morning flight will leave at 11.10 hrs
local time. The evening connection at 21.45 hrs. All flights will be operated
with Embraer Emb.190 aircraft.
In
2018 skeyes, the national air navigation service provider,
guided 1,101,145 aircraft in the Belgian airspace and at the
Belgian airports. For the first time in history skeyes
managed more than 600,000 overflights above our country and
Luxembourg. All together more than 34 million passengers and
around 1.6 million tons of cargo are concerned. Those too
are record numbers.
