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% […]
January 11, 2022
Airline company Brussels Airlines will not be able to cope with the current fleet during the coming summer season. According to CEO Peter Gerber, more than the current 39 airplanes will be needed. He said this in an interview with the German trade magazine Aerotelegraph reports news agency Belga. In 2020, Brussels Airlines reduced its […]
January 07, 2022
Airlines have no reason to fly planes empty in Europe to keep their airport slots. That is what ACI Europe, the association representing Europe’s airports, says, expressing dismay at the controversy that arose after Lufthansa said carrying out some 18 000 unnecessary flights just to keep its time slots. About 3 000 of these are […]
January 05, 2022
German air transport group Lufthansa is set to cancel 33 000 flights by late March due to the effect of the resurging pandemic. However, to keep its allocated take-off and landing slots at European airports, the airline will have to ensure 18 000 flights, full or empty. Belgian Federal Mobility Minister, Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), asks […]
December 24, 2021
The German airline company Lufthansa has canceled several long-distance flights due to a shortage of pilots. Many pilots are ill and the company is forced to reschedule and even reduce the flights planned for January and February. Subsidiary company Brussels Airlines has had similar problems and also had to cancel one flight so far. “The […]
December 17, 2021
The Australian airline company Qantas is planning to replace its actual fleet of Boeings for inland flights with Airbus planes. The European aircraft builder Airbus has signed a contract with Qantas. The prices of the deal were not mentioned. Meanwhile, also Air France-KLM has placed an order for 100 machines at Airbus; some 60 more […]
December 16, 2021
Pilots and cabin crew of airline company Brussels Airlines will knock off work on Monday for a 24-hour strike. This was learned from the trade unions on Wednesday. They are protesting the excessive workload. The management of Brussels Airlines says being “very surprised” by the call for a strike that may also involve the ground […]
November 29, 2021
To conclude the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Renault 4, the carmaker has decided to team up with motion design hub TheArsenale to create a futuristic show car, AIR4, a reinterpretation of this iconic model. 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the Renault 4L, a car that has sold more than 8 million units […]
November 26, 2021
On Thursday, November 25th, Brussels Airport has officially launched Stargate. In the next five years, Stargate, a consortium of 22 partners, will work out several projects aiming at greener aviation and making European airports more sustainable. The Stargate project will receive €24,8 million subsidies within the European Green Deal. The partners of the consortium will […]
November 19, 2021
Brussels Airlines presented a new brand identity, including a new logo, on Thursday. The latter immediately caused some ‘turbulence’, as the new identity and logo were certainly not to the liking of several hundred employees that wanted the money spent elsewhere to reduce pressure on the staff. And Polish news medium, Gazeta.pl, saw a striking […]
November 04, 2021
Brussels Airlines has had an excellent third quarter, thanks to the strong demand for vacation flights. As a result, the adjusted operating profit (EBIT) from July to September was 1 million euros, compared to a loss of 51 million euros in the same period last year. For the first nine months of the year, the […]
November 04, 2021
Dutch oil giant Shell, Swedish energy provider Vattenfall, and Scandinavia’s leading airline SAS announced to jointly study the possibilities to produce 50 000 tons of electrofuel for aviation, made from green hydrogen and CO2, captured from a district heating facility. With full production up and running, SAS could provide up to 25 percent of its […]
October 28, 2021
British-American start-up in hydrogen-powered aviation, ZeroAvia, has signed an agreement with Dutch aviation partners to realize a zero-emission one-hour flight route with a 19-seat airplane on hydrogen between London and The Hague Airport (RTHA) in Rotterdam. ZeroAvia and Royal Schiphol Group say they’re in advanced talks with airlines to exploit the new route. Targeted for […]
October 15, 2021
Alitalia, the flagship of Italian air transport, will end its 74-year history. On Thursday, it made its last flight, crippled by long-standing financial problems. Today, the new airline Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) will take off with the help of the Italian government. But there is deliberately no talk of a relaunch. Instead, the new player […]
October 14, 2021
This Tuesday, the Belgian government suggested introducing a tax on short-haul flights less than 500 km from Brussels Airport. In its estimate, it should bring in 30 million euros by 2022, and 40 million in the next two years. The opposition was quick to berate the suggested bill, pointing out obvious flaws. They include the […]
October 13, 2021
French President Macron presented on Tuesday his ‘France 2030’ program, which plans to invest €30 billion in different industrial and energy sectors to put France back on the map. Automotive and aerospace will share a budget of four billion euros to reach specific objectives, including 2 million EVs and hybrids produced by 2030 and the […]
October 12, 2021
German airline Lufthansa has repaid part of the state aid it received during the corona crisis following a capital increase as planned. Lufthansa confirmed this on Monday. By issuing new shares, the airline could carry out a capital increase of 2,15 billion euros gross. This enables Lufthansa to repay 1,5 billion euros to the German […]
October 05, 2021
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), grouping 290 airlines worldwide, has agreed on its yearly congress in Boston (US) to make aviation CO2-free by 2050. Experts fear it will be a gigantic task, as IATA targeted the last twelve years only to halve its CO2 emissions by that date, compared to 2005. The objectives are […]
September 17, 2021
The British-Dutch oil and gas company, Shell, plans to construct a large production unit for biofuels at the Shell Energy and Park Rotterdam (the Netherlands), formerly known as the Pernis refinery. The Rotterdam plant will produce 820 000 tons of biofuels a year. “A facility of this size could produce enough renewable diesel to avoid […]
September 01, 2021
Irish low-budget airline, Ryanair, launches eleven new destinations this winter season, all departing from Charleroi. This winter, Ryanair will fly to 97 destinations. The company will use fifteen airplanes in Belgium: thirteen of them will be operational in Charleroi, and two in Zaventem. The company intends to become the most important player in Belgium, CEO […]
August 27, 2021
Brussels Airlines will again fly to more remote tourist destinations in the coming months. It will add Marrakech in Morocco and Hurghada in Egypt to its offer, destinations that the government currently strongly discourages because of the corona pandemic. According to the airline, the demand for those sunny winter destinations is increasing, especially with the […]
August 27, 2021
On the 15th of October, Alitalia (AerolineeInternazionali Italiane, also called ‘the wings of Italy’) will not exist anymore and be replaced by ITA, for Italia Trasporto Aereo). As a result, the fleet of Alitalia will be halved; the personnel is waiting anxiously for the impact on their lives. Alitalia was created in 1947, after World […]
August 12, 2021
For the first time since the pandemic, Brussels Airport again received more than one million passengers in one month. In July, the airport welcomed 1 268 257 passengers, it announced Wednesday. The number of passengers was more than twice as high as in July 2020. But compared to times before corona, Zaventem airport is not […]
August 09, 2021
Ultra-low-cost airline WizzAir, which is flying from Charleroi Airport (Brussels South) in Belgium too, is to triple its fleet of aircraft from 140 to 500 by 2030, it announced. To staff these, the company counts on hiring some 4 600 extra pilots. Like all others, WizzAir was touched by the pandemic too and saw the […]
August 06, 2021
As the summer holidays are in full swing and air transport is taking off, Brussels Airline is at half-mast with an EBIT loss of 143 million euro at mid-2021. Revenues have dropped by 45% compared to the same period last year while the number of passengers transported between January and June fell by 57%. Mother […]
August 04, 2021
DHL Express, the international courier and package delivery service division of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has ordered a fleet of twelve fully electric eCargo planes from the electric airplane manufacturer Eviation in Seattle. Alice, as the plane is baptized, is flown by a single pilot and can carry a load of 1 200 kg. It […]
July 15, 2021
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reacts as stung by a bee to the EU Commission’s intention to tax kerosine in the future for flights within the EU. It warns “that the reliance on taxation as the solution for cutting aviation emissions in the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ proposal is counter-productive to the goal of […]
July 06, 2021
Last weekend the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, indicated that Total is pulling the plug on palm oil. This natural oil had recently come under fire because of the way the oil is extracted. In addition, the combination of monoculture and the chopping down of rainforests to grow palm oil has long been criticized. Palm […]
July 02, 2021
British-American start-up in hydrogen-powered aviation, ZeroAvia, is setting the bar higher again with the development of a 19-seater twin-engined airplane for short-haul flights, capable of covering a range of 800 km. ZeroAvia was the first to feature a six-seater H2-powered electric airplane passenger flight in September 2020. ZeroAvia acquired two twin-engine 19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft […]
