January 19, 2023
German airline group Lufthansa is the only bidder to take a stake in Italian airline ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia. This was announced by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday evening, after the deadline. Earlier in the day, French-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM had announced that it would not submit a […]
January 17, 2023
Antwerp Airport reopened its connection with London on Monday. Luxembourg-based airline Luxair is responsible for the link to London City Airport. In the first phase, they will fly to the British capital four times a week. Although flying is climate-friendly compared to before, traveling by Eurostar remains a good deal less polluting, even if the […]
December 08, 2022
France will ban short-haul domestic flights in favor of the train. The country was given the green light by the European Commission to abolish flights between cities if the link by train offers an alternative solution with trips of fewer than 2,5 hours. But Willie Walsh, the Director General of the International Air Transport Association […]
December 08, 2022
Brussels Airlines is expanding its fleet and offering in preparation for summer 2023. It is also creating more than 200 new jobs. The airline is thus adding five new Airbus A320 neo aircraft to its fleet, reducing its carbon footprint. Most of the additional jobs are flying personnel, some of whom are already being trained. […]
December 06, 2022
European aircraft giant Airbus believes in hydrogen to propel aviation in the future. It solemnly pledged to have an H2 airplane commercially ready by 2035. The hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine showed last week could be the ideal solution for planes for mid-haul flights with up to 100 passengers and a range of 1 000 nautical […]
December 06, 2022
Air France-KLM is to buy 800 000 tons of non-fossil Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) over ten years from TotalEnergies to meet its environmental objectives. The two companies signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding for this, starting in 2023. The fuel will be produced by TotalEnergies in its biorefineries and made available to Air France-KLM […]
December 05, 2022
France will ban short-haul domestic flights in favor of the train. The country was given the green light by the European Commission to abolish flights between cities if the link by a train offers an alternative solution with trips of fewer than 2,5 hours. When the measure was first announced, it was contested by the […]
December 02, 2022
Low-cost airline Ryanair has signed an agreement with Shell to supply more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The oil and gas group will help make SAF more available to the Irish carrier’s fleet at 200 European airports. This mainly concerns Ryanair’s largest bases in Dublin and London Stansted. Ryanair has already partnered with Neste, the world’s […]
December 01, 2022
In an unusual partnership, French carmaker Renault and airplane builder Airbus have announced a partnership to develop innovative battery technology. Apart from reducing the weight of the battery packs and looking at solutions for energy management, both companies will cooperate on solid-state development. Instead of joining forces with another carmaker, Renault has chosen one of […]
November 29, 2022
It’s a world first, says the British airplane engine manufacturer Rolls Royce with the same name as the car, but no other than historical connections: a modern turboprop airplane engine running on green hydrogen. It didn’t fly yet, but it was a successful ‘ground test’ together with the British low-budget airline easyJet. H2ZERO, as the […]
November 22, 2022
Europe’s largest airline group Lufthansa has launched a campaign to recruit 20 000 employees in Europe. According to the group’s statement, Lufthansa will recruit these new employees in 45 professions at its site in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. In particular, technicians, IT specialists, lawyers, pilots, and cabin crew are being sought. The campaign comes […]
October 28, 2022
Brussels Airlines made record profits in the third quarter. The adjusted operating profit or ‘adjusted debit’ amounted to 51 million euros, “the best quarterly result in Brussels Airlines’ 20-year history,” the airline said. With the strong increase in demand, good development of liquidity, and financial support of parent group Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines will be able […]
October 14, 2022
It’s getting crowded in the air. Just a week after Volocopter took its maiden flight in Rome, Chinese brand Xpeng took its so-called ‘flying car’ airborne in Dubai. The demonstration flight was organized by its aviation subsidiary, Xpeng Aeroth. Over 150 attendees witnessed the X2 lifting off and hitting the skies on the opening day […]
October 10, 2022
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN body created in 1944 to regulate, among others, safety, efficiency, and environmental protection in global aviation, has agreed to the common goal to make the whole sector climate-neutral by 2050. Of the 193 member states of the 41st Assembly in Montreal, the organization’s sovereign body that meets […]
October 10, 2022
German air mobility company Volocopter has taken the next step on its roadmap toward offering flying taxi services. At Fiumicino Airport in Rome, their 2X electric air taxi took off in front of onlookers from the media and airport officials. The test flight is a prelude to offering real taxi rides in 2024. While the […]
September 30, 2022
Alice, the fully electric propeller airplane from American aircraft builder Eviation under development, has made its maiden flight this week at Grant County International Airport (MWH), flying for 8 minutes at an altitude of 3 500 feet (1 066 m). Alice is targeted at commuter and cargo markets and will typically operate flights ranging from […]
September 27, 2022
Airline company EasyJet will invest billions in hydrogen technology and more fuel-efficient aircraft, among other things, to achieve emission-free flying by 2050. The British low-cost airline reported this on Monday when presenting its detailed future plans. According to CEO Johan Lundgren, these measures and investments in hydrogen-powered jet engines, or a “roadmap to net zero”, […]
September 14, 2022
From today, there will be direct flights again between Belgium and South Africa. That will be ensured by the airline Air Belgium, which will fly twice a week from Brussels Airport to Johannesburg and Cape Town. According to Air Belgium’s CEO, Niky Terzakis, these are the first direct flights between Belgium and South Africa in […]
September 13, 2022
Last summer, the airports of Antwerp and Ostend-Bruges welcomed almost 50% more passengers than last year. After two years of travel restrictions, the airports welcomed almost 160 000 passengers during the summer holidays. This means that these Flemish regional airports, managed by the French engineering group Egis, currently have 80% of the number of passengers […]
September 12, 2022
The motor show in Detroit, officially known as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), will now take place in September and is following a new concept. The media day is next Wednesday, on the 14th of September, and after some professional days, the show opens to the public from 17 to 25 September. Being […]
September 07, 2022
Passengers of Lufthansa Group’s airlines no longer must queue up at the check-in desk in the departure hall of Brussels Airport to have their suitcases labeled and taken to the aircraft. Instead, thanks to a new baggage drop-off system, they can now carry out this procedure themselves, the airline and the airport have announced. The […]
September 01, 2022
German airline Lufthansa is missing out on the take-over of ITA, the successor to Alitalia. The Italian government withheld the bid of the American investment company Certares, together with airlines Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines. Exclusive negotiations for the take-over are now being started with the latter parties. Lufthansa has submitted a bid together […]
August 24, 2022
Brussels Airlines wants to expand, with more planes and more staff. Vacancies have already been published and various growth scenarios are on the table. This was announced internally at the airline on Tuesday. “We are currently investigating various growth scenarios, which we will work out in more detail soon,” says spokesperson Maaike Andries. More clarity […]
August 18, 2022
American Airlines, claiming to be the world’s biggest airline, announced it has placed an order and paid a non-refundable deposit to US aerospace company Boom Supersonic for 20 supersonic Overture airplanes with an option for an additional 40. United Airlines has a deal for 15 aircraft and an option for 35 more, and Japan Airlines […]
August 12, 2022
In the coming years, Ryanair will no longer offer tickets at absolute bottom prices, such as 0,99 or 9,99 euros. This is what the top man Michael O’Leary of the Irish low-cost airline said in a radio interview with the BBC. Due to rising fuel and energy prices, accelerated by the war in Ukraine, Ryanair […]
August 05, 2022
Three years after flying over the Channel with a self-developed ‘Flyboard’, French former jet-ski world champion Franky Zapata has demonstrated his ‘flying car’, the JetRacer. The drone-like VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft with one seat is propelled by ten micro turbo-jet engines. It can reach an altitude of 3 000 meters and a top […]
August 05, 2022
Lufthansa, led by its cargo arm, has achieved its first quarterly net profit in over two years. Europe’s leading air transport group expects to post an operating profit of at least 500 million euros in 2022. “The Lufthansa group is back in the green,” boss Carsten Spohr said in a statement. “It’s now a matter […]
August 03, 2022
The German airline group Lufthansa and its Belgian subsidiary Brussels Airlines are testing a new environmentally-friendly ticket fare on the Scandinavian market. In addition to the classic Light, Classic, and Flex fares, a so-called ‘green fare’ has also been available since Tuesday in the booking process for European flights from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. With […]
July 26, 2022
According to the American aerospace manufacturer Boeing, global aviation will need 2,1 million new employees over the next 20 years due to the growth of its commercial aircraft fleet. That fleet is expected to nearly double to 47 080 commercial aircraft by 2041, Boeing says in its new Pilot and Technician Outlook (PTO), which it […]
July 20, 2022
Europe’s second biggest low-budget airline, British-based Easyjet, will work with British aerospace giant Rolls Royce (not the carmaker) in developing jet engines running on hydrogen. Both parties announced at the Farnborough aerospace fair that they will start ground tests this year, aiming to get the technology airborne by 2030. H2ZERO, as the cooperation is baptized, […]
July 18, 2022
Lufthansa more than doubled its turnover in the second quarter compared to last year. The German airline profited substantially from the increased demand for air travel as passengers rush to board planes again for business trips and their summer vacation, but the profit was also achieved because Lufthansa significantly increased the prices of its airline […]
July 18, 2022
The Antwerp-based private aircraft company Flyinggroup has ordered 50 e-VTOL VX4 airplanes from British Vertical Aerospace (Vertical), a pioneer in electric aviation. Delivery is expected by 2025. Flyinggroup, headquartered in Deurne (Antwerp), manages a fleet of more than 45 private planes in Europe and the Middle East, of which 15 are stationed in Antwerp. Now, […]
July 08, 2022
On Thursday, the European Parliament agreed to set a roadmap for the sector to fly on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from food waste, animal fat, or hydrogen, and CO2 instead of pure fossil kerosine. The MEPs went further than the EU Commission, setting the bar to 85% added SAF by 2050 instead of the […]
June 28, 2022
The extension of the P3 ‘Holiday’ car park at Brussels Airport has been completed, providing 2 000 extra spaces, Interparking and the airport announced on Monday. The extension brings the total number of parking spaces available at Brussels Airport to 13 000. The extension is spread over ten floors, with two underground levels, and will […]
June 27, 2022
The European Commission calls on all partners in the aviation sector to join forces in an alliance on zero-emission aviation. Over the next two decades, the Commission says, more than 44,000 new aircraft are expected to be on the market. It estimates the potential market volume for zero-emission aircraft at 26 000 by 2050, with […]
June 14, 2022
Seventeen Dutch companies and organizations have set up a partnership to develop a complete zero-emission drivetrain replacement for traditional propeller airplanes for the short-haul, based on electric motors fueled by fuel cells and hydrogen. They want to become a tier-one supplier of their HAPSS system to retrofit existing turboprop airplanes up to 40 to 80 […]
June 13, 2022
Hungarian low-budget airline Wizz Air will explore with European airplane builder Airbus all facets of flying ultra-low-cost on hydrogen. That includes the hydrogen aircraft, operations, infrastructure, the network, scheduling issues, ground bases, and airports. For this, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus that is to launch its hydrogen planes by 2035. Wizz […]
June 10, 2022
German airline Lufthansa and its low-cost subsidiary Eurowings announced they would cancel +1 000 flights in July. This is because there is not enough staff, both in-house and at airport service providers, to ensure the planned flight supply. Many airlines and airports in Europe, which often let employees go during the corona crisis, are struggling […]
June 09, 2022
Europe has taken a historic step on Wednesday with the Parliament voting a ban on sales of new cars or vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE), including plug-in hybrids, from 2035 on. Only manufacturers selling less than 10 000 – mostly exclusive sports cars like Ferrari – can apply for a derogation for a […]
May 31, 2022
Anyone flying with Brussels Airlines can now choose with one click to compensate for the CO2 emissions of the flight. The option is now integrated into the booking process, the airline announced. The CO2 compensation system already exists at Brussels Airlines, but until now, it was rather time-consuming: the traveler had to click through to […]
May 30, 2022
The startup Vaeridion from Munich wants to build small electric airplanes with space for two pilots and nine passengers. In contrast to the numerous electric vertical take-off concepts, Vaeridion’s electric aircraft is designed to take off and land like an ordinary airplane. The plans are in the very early stages. Still, the ambitions are high: […]
May 25, 2022
The Italian government has received two offers to acquire a majority stake in the Italian airline ITA Airways, the successor of Alitalia. One offer comes from Lufthansa, joining hands with the Swiss maritime group MSC. The other comes from an American investment group, Certares Management. This offer is backed by Air France/KLM and the American […]
May 24, 2022
In an objective to renew the airport of Zaventem into a multimodal hub based on a more environmental-friendly strategy, her CEO Arnaud Feist wants to exchange short-haul flights with high-speed train connections. While pointing at how Brussels Airport was one of the first in Europe with an integrated train station, he also puts the ball […]
May 11, 2022
A new trial involving nearly 400 families living in the area affected by noise pollution from flights of Brussels National Airport is targeting the Belgian government. The civil lawsuit, led by the civic organizations Wake up Crainhem and AWACSS, has been launched at the Brussels Court of First Instance, writes the newspaper La Libre Belgique. […]
May 10, 2022
European and US headquartered global companies are not putting much effort into reducing their business trips for climate’s sake. In the international ranking of the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), companies with an A-score are the most ambitious; those dangling at the bottom get the lowest evaluation, a D-score. The ranking grades 230 US and […]
May 06, 2022
Brussels Airlines has again posted a red figure of -62 million euros in the first three months of 2022. Although this is an 11% improvement compared to the previous year, and the first quarter is traditionally the lowest-performing period of the year in the aviation sector, the airline is still experiencing the consequences of the […]
April 06, 2022
Up until corona times, aviation was the fastest-growing carbon polluter in the European Union. Still, it is one of the top receivers of free pollution permits relative to their emissions under the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS in short). The EU ETS is a cornerstone of the EU’s policy to combat climate change […]
March 28, 2022
The mandatory flight tax will cost Belgian airline companies – Brussels Airlines, Air Belgium, and TUI Fly – five million euros, money they will have to pay out of their own pockets as they can’t impose it on customers for already booked flights. The decision to impose airlines a so-called ‘flight tax’ was taken last […]
March 16, 2022
The noisiest and heaviest aircraft must be banned from Brussels Airport. That is what the Federal Ombudsman for the national airport, Philippe Touwaide, has stated at a press conference on Tuesday. “There are infringements every night, and we don’t pursue them,” Touwaide said, citing the case of noisy aircraft such as Boeing 777s at night […]
March 08, 2022
Today, Transport & Environment (T&E), the European Federation for Transport and Environment, publishes its ‘Roadmap to climate-neutral aviation’. According to the organization, progress in technology and the lessons learned during the pandemic have shown a way to green aviation in Europe. To bring Europeʼs aviation industry in line with our climate goals, binding measures have […]
March 07, 2022
After Airbus in Europe took the lead on developing airplanes burning hydrogen instead of kerosene, American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is also looking into hydrogen-fueled propulsion technology for commercial aviation. End of February, it got a $3,8 million grant from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to develop these engines. The HySIITE project will […]
March 04, 2022
Brussels Airlines ended the year as expected with an operating loss of 189 million euros. That is less than in the first corona year 2020. This year it aims to break even, and the CEO of Brussels Airlines, Peter Gerber, is confident that during the pandemic a new Brussels Airlines has been built, ready for […]
March 03, 2022
Airline Ryanair is going to expand its summer offer at Charleroi significantly. Twenty destinations will be added at Charleroi, announced Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary. These include Naples, Madeira, Sibiu, and Stockholm. Ryanair is thus flying to 121 destinations from Belgium, an absolute record, claims the low-cost carrier. The company is very optimistic and hopes […]
February 14, 2022
On 15 February, Brussels Airlines celebrates its twentieth anniversary. In 2002, SN Brussels Airlines was launched on the same day, the successor of Sabena, which went bankrupt in November 2001. Since early 2017, Brussels Airlines has been wholly owned by the German group Lufthansa. After a few difficult years with loss-making and two years of […]
February 02, 2022
Despite being a small manufacturer of hypercars in a small town in Sweden, Koenigsegg has never been shy of developing pioneering technology. With the electric dawn settling, the company confirms its reputation by introducing a revolutionary electric motor, which packs massive power without a weight penalty. Or, you could argue Koenigsegg is showcasing two such […]
January 28, 2022
Airplanes with 200 passengers flying up to 2 000 nautical miles or 3 700 km on hydrogen without any emissions at all? Yes, by 2035, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says, it will be possible by burning hydrogen like spacecraft. But the challenge is: how to store enough of it onboard? Hydrogen provides three times more […]
January 25, 2022
Lufthansa and Swiss-Italian shipping group MSC have offered to buy a majority stake in ITA Airways, the slimmed-down successor to Alitalia controlled by the Italian state. This was reported by various Italian media on Monday. The two groups have asked for an exclusivity period of 90 days to study the deal. The proposal of the […]
January 21, 2022
Energy provider Engie and French aeronautics group Safran have both invested in Ineratec, a German start-up specialized in decarbonized synthetic fuels. The young company just closed a financing round of over $20 million, which will develop a sustainable synthetic fuel production plant near Frankfurt Airport that could yield up to 4,6 million littles from CO2 […]
January 20, 2022
With hopes of the pandemic coming to an end, a mastodon of the world aeronautics industry, Airbus, is preparing for the post-Covid-19 boom in air transport and new greener airplane requirements with a new recruitment plan. In 2022, the company will hire 6 000 people, one-quarter of them for decarbonization, digital transformation, and cybertechnology. “Airbus […]
January 11, 2022
The Air France-KLM Group is raising airplane ticket prices in 2022 by one to twelve euros depending on the cabin class and distance traveled to pay for the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), added to regular kerosine. In France, adding 1% of SAF has been mandatory since last year. KLM will start adding 0,5% […]
