French container giant CMA CGM also submits take-over bid for Air Belgium

French logistics group CMA CGM, best known for its container ships, has also submitted a bid to take over cargo operations with airline Air Belgium.

The cargo operations of the judicially reorganized Air Belgium were first to be taken over by Air One Belgium. But about two weeks ago, the Nivelles business court reversed that approval, although Air One is still challenging that decision. The court then gave other potential buyers until March 27th to come forward.

Previous collaboration

CGA CGM would use the four cargo aircraft Air Belgium flies and retain the Air Belgium name and brand. It is not clear how many jobs the French group would save. Air One Belgium promised to keep 197 of its 401 employees and would operate from Brussels Airport.

Air Belgium and CMA CGM are no strangers to each other. In March 2021, the French group launched its own air cargo service, CMA CGM Air Cargo, whose flights were initially operated by Air Belgium from Liège Airport. Those were also the first cargo flights for Air Belgium.

Afterward, CMA CGM also entered an “exclusive partnership” in air cargo with French Dutch airline group Air France-KLM. Under the deal, CMA CGM took a 9% stake in the airline group.

However, in March last year, the two companies announced that they withdrew from their existing agreement, although the 9% shareholding remained in place.

Legal conflict

CMA CGM’s bid has been turned over to the receiver managing the transfer under juridical authority. The court will consider it on March 27th. Air One’s appeal against canceling its take-over will be heard on April 3rd.

In December, the business court of Walloon Brabant authorized the transfer of Air Belgium’s cargo operations to Air One, a consortium of Dutch company PESO Aviation Management and British company Air One Holding International.

However, the approval was revoked in early March, as the court ruled that Air One could not complete the transfer. Thereupon, Air One filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that the court was not allowed to make that decision and that it made its decision based on incorrect facts.

In terms of content, Air One says it has been given until June 5th to meet several conditions and is still on track to do so. These include paying the acquisition process of 800,000 euros and applying for a Belgian aviation license.

Financial bottleneck

According to the Belga news agency, which reviewed the documents, there is a financial bottleneck: an outstanding debt of 3.2 million euros with the aircraft leasing company Altavair.

That company threatened to block two cargo planes that Air One was going to use until that debt was paid. However, according to Air One’s lawyers, the debt was accumulated by Air Belgium and its passenger aircraft and, therefore, cannot possibly be recovered from Air One.

Air Belgium responded that it “can only note that Air One has decided to challenge the decision of the corporate court of Walloon Brabant.” “This is a dispute between Air One and the Belgian court. Air Belgium is not directly involved in this case,” it says.

Air Belgium also recalls that the president of the enterprise court had determined in early March that Air One had been “negligent” during the proceedings and then decided to withdraw the transfer of activities. Otherwise, Air Belgium will not comment on the case.