Only one candidate to resuscitate Air Belgium

These are tense times for Air Belgium. An investor has submitted a bid for the ailing Walloon airline. Judicial reorganization proceedings ended in late September, and potential investors had until November 15th to go forward.

The court in Nivelles will consider the bid on December 5th. Who the investor is and the plans regarding activities and employment are unclear, although it seems unlikely that all activities will be resumed.

Only active as an air cargo carrier

According to business newspaper De Tijd, Air Belgium operates only as an air cargo carrier for clients such as DHL and Air France. Its wet-leasing division, which offers its aircraft and crew to other airlines, was reportedly discontinued last month.

All passenger flights to South Africa and Mauritius had previously been discontinued, as those operations were chronically loss-making. As a result, some 11,000 passengers also saw their travel plans go up in smoke; most are still waiting for a refund on their tickets.

Loss of €120 million

Air Belgium, based in Mont-Saint-Guibert (Walloon Brabant) and employing between 400 and 500 people, ended the 2023 fiscal year with a loss of 27.5 million euros. The accumulated loss amounted to nearly 120 million euros.

The largest shareholder of Air Belgium, with founder Niky Terzakis as CEO, is the Chinese logistics group Hongyuan, with a 49.95% stake. The Walloon government is also a major shareholder. It already invested 21 million euros in the company and has a stake of about 35% but no longer seems willing to come to its aid again. The federal government has a 12.5% stake through the investment company SFPIM.

Air Belgium reportedly needs at least 18 million euros in the short term. The investor must also be of European origin to continue flying under the Belgian flag. Without fresh capital, bankruptcy seems inevitable.