Air Belgium renounces to resume its Hong Kong service, but remains committed to its development plans

Mont-Saint-Guibert, 14 March 2019 - Air Belgium announces that it will not resume its scheduled service between Brussels-Charleroi and Hong Kong, as anticipated by March 31, 2019. However, Air Belgium will carry on with its development projects to China and to the Americas.

A painful decision, but reasonable given the current market conditions
Air Belgium apologizes to its passengers currently holding a reservation. The company is contacting its Customers concerned and is immediately initiating the full refund process.

Niky Terzakis, CEO of Air Belgium: "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 assuring continued full employment.”

China mainland still our priority along other projects to the Americas
Air Belgium is currently flying on behalf of legacy airlines with success. These activities are allowing the company to be acknowledged for its quality of service, reliability, agility and flexibility. Air Belgium’s employment level is also continuously increasing. In this regard, the company now has 248 full time equivalent employees, compared to 176 last October and continues to hire staff weekly. One should note that by the end of this month, Air Belgium will have carried more than 200,000 passengers.

As for its further development, Air Belgium is preparing to serve two destinations in mainland China from Brussels-Charleroi this summer. The company is also finalizing plans aiming at starting service to the Americas by next winter. In this respect, Air Belgium has obtained required approvals and access permits from the different American and Canadian authorities. Further communications regarding these developments and upcoming projects will follow in due time.