January 28, 2025
The very first flight to Congo took off from Belgium on Thursday, February 12th, 100 years ago. Especially for this anniversary, a milestone for Belgian aviation, bpost is issuing a unique stamp. Two truly Belgian companies, bpost and Brussels Airlines, are joining forces for this purpose. The new stamp features a photo montage of the […]
January 27, 2025
European aircraft maker Airbus is ceasing operations with Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), its cargo company, for exceptional transport. The company used specially developed megaplanes, ‘Beluga ST’. It involved 75 jobs. “Global demand for cargo transport by aircraft remains strong,” said Airbus. “But we have found that certain activities have shifted to shipping.” In addition, the […]
January 24, 2025
According to the Belgian business newspaper De Tijd, Austrian energy and chemical giant OMV has advanced plans to build a refinery in the port of Antwerp. At the Kallo plant, waste streams such as used frying oil and other vegetable or animal fats from the food and agricultural sectors could be converted into sustainable aviation […]
January 23, 2025
According to formateur Bart De Wever (N-VA), the so-called ‘Arizona coalition’ is gradually entering the final straight line for forming a new federal government. One notable mobility measure on the table is that Charleroi Airport would get a connection to the rail network. This is according to a leak to the newspaper La Libre Belgique, […]
January 21, 2025
Brussels Airport is launching a pilot project to sell the power generated by its solar panels to 100 households in four neighboring municipalities. The airport operator promises a discount of about 124 euros off an average household’s annual electric energy bill. Collaboration with energy platform Bolt The pilot project is being run in collaboration with […]
January 17, 2025
Hungarian low-budget airline company Wizz Air, which operates at Charleroi Airport (Belgium), has “successfully” tested sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on more than fifty flights. Wizz Air operated more than fifty flights using a blend of SAF and traditional jet fuel and also surveyed passengers to gauge awareness and attitudes toward low-carbon aviation, including SAF. The […]
January 16, 2025
German Jörg Eberhart, a manager at Lufthansa, will become the new CEO of ITA Airways, the state-owned airline that emerged from bankrupt Alitalia. The Italian state’s designation thus also formalizes the German group’s entry into ITA Airways’ capital. Italian Lorenza Maggio, vice president of sales of Lufthansa for Europa, the Middle East, and Africa, will […]
January 15, 2025
Last year, Brussels Airport welcomed 23.6 million passengers. That’s 6.4% more than in 2023 but still just over 10% below the record level set before the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with the business newspaper De Tijd, CEO Arnaud Feist also states unequivocally that Brussels Airport will not be able to meet the noise standards […]
January 15, 2025
Whatever efforts the aviation sector makes to meet climate goals will be in vain because of the predicted growth in air traffic, reports Transport & Environment in a new rapport, a screening of European environmental targets for air traffic. According to the NGO, the EU must develop measures to regulate air traffic growth to reduce […]
January 09, 2025
The Lufthansa Group plans to hire some 10,000 new employees this year. Three hundred sixty people are involved at the subsidiary Brussels Airlines. Last year, the entire Lufthansa Group recruited 13,000 people. All these new hires clearly signal that the group, the largest in Europe and fourth largest in the world by revenue, has shaken […]
December 30, 2024
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair expects to put 29 new Boeing 737 aircraft into service next year. That 3-billion-dollar investment should create 2,000 new jobs in Europe. Ryanair’s ambition is to increase passenger numbers to 300 million over the next ten years. Its fleet would increase from nearly 600 to 800 aircraft over that period. The […]
December 27, 2024
Starting January 1, Lufthansa will impose an environmental surcharge on flights departing from Europe. The surcharge ranges from 1 to 72 euros, depending on distance and travel class. For subsidiary Brussels Airlines, the environmental surcharge will be a maximum of 36 euros. “This surcharge is intended to cover part of the ever-increasing additional costs resulting […]
December 23, 2024
The long-awaited project around electric flying cabs in Paris will not happen this year. The French Council of State annulled the ministerial decree authorizing the creation of an aircraft take-off and landing platform of 740 m² on the Seine in Paris. French airport operator Aéroports de Paris (ADP), along with Volocopter, the German manufacturer of […]
December 20, 2024
Air Belgium will continue cargo operations under the name Air One Belgium. So reports CEO Niky Terzakis. The 64-year-old aviation entrepreneur will remain at the helm of his brainchild. However, following financial troubles, the company has now been acquired by a Dutch PESA Aviation Management consortium and British Air One Holding International. “The bidder has […]
December 19, 2024
Brussels Airport expects to handle a record number of passengers this Christmas vacation. According to the airport in Zaventem, that number would fly above the million for the first time. The start of the vacation, Friday, December 20th, will be the busiest day with 72,000 passengers, according to the airport. This will involve some 40,000 […]
December 16, 2024
As expected, the Nivelles business court has approved the take-over of financially troubled airline Air Belgium by a consortium of Dutch PESO Aviation Management and British Air Ones Holding International. It was the only final offer submitted on time. Air Belgium’s lawyers and the delegated judge had advised the court last week to accept the […]
December 12, 2024
According to a new study by Nature Communications, tourism turnover almost doubled between 2009 and 2019, representing an annual growth of 5.5 percent. However, this strong growth is accompanied by a carbon footprint of 5.2 gigatons of CO2 equivalent or 8.8 percent of global emissions. The primary drivers of emissions growth are slow technology efficiency […]
December 11, 2024
IATA, the global airline umbrella organization, expects airlines worldwide to carry 5.2 billion passengers next year, the first time this will exceed the 5 billion mark. More passengers also mean more flights, leading to higher CO2 emissions from the aviation sector. For example, using more sustainable fuels, such as biomass or used oils, could help […]
December 06, 2024
The company that wants to take over the financially troubled airline Air Belgium is known. It is a consortium of two companies: Dutch company PESO Aviation Management and British company Air One Holding International. That consortium also wants to keep only 197 of Air Belgium’s 401 current employees. This was announced before the Nivelles enterprise […]
December 03, 2024
According to a new ranking by Transport & Environment (T&E), only 10 out of 77 airlines are making noteworthy efforts to switch to sustainable alternatives to fossil kerosene. The remaining 67 are either buying too few sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), the wrong kind of SAFs, or are not considering SAFs at all in their decarbonization […]
December 03, 2024
From March, Brussels Airlines will start flying direct to Kinshasa daily. Currently, there are five direct flights a week and two flights a week with a stopover in Luanda (Angola). By broadening its offer to the Congolese capital, Brussels Airlines confirms its reputation as the Lufthansa Group’s Africa specialist. Non-stop “The history of aviation in […]
December 02, 2024
Brussels Airport has started another pilot project with a self-driving shuttle bus. The van will transport employees on the airport’s tarmac for three months. The pilot project is part of the European Commission’s Stargate program, which aims to make aviation more sustainable. The shuttle itself was developed by New Zealand company Ohmio. Fixed route of […]
November 29, 2024
What was first feared is now confirmed: the only take-over bid for Air Belgium only concerns the cargo operations. In other words, passenger operations will disappear. The ailing airline will know on December 5th whether the sale proposal receives court approval. But it looks like an end to Air Belgium anyway. Candidate is a European […]
November 28, 2024
French aerospace and defense company Safran has inaugurated BeCOVER, a new aviation test center of the future. The test center in Herstal, in the province of Liège, is the only one in Europe. The 3,000 m² will be used to test all types of compressors for new generations of civil and military aircraft engines in […]
November 27, 2024
Starting next summer, Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, will be added to the network of destinations to which Brussels Airlines flies. At the same time, the airline will also deploy more aircraft in the 2025 summer season, allowing it to increase capacity by 18%, which means higher frequencies to many destinations. This higher […]
November 25, 2024
In no other European country is rail travel more popular than in Switzerland. Last year, the Swiss traveled an average of 2,466 km by rail and took the train a whopping 68 times. Worldwide, only the Japanese travel more by train. That Switzerland remains the European champion of train travel it owes to a dense […]
November 22, 2024
German parcel company DHL Express and energy company Shell have signed a one-year agreement for the use of 25,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Brussels Airport. This will allow it to replace a third of the traditional kerosene in the planes departing from Brussels Airport with the more environmentally friendly fuel derived from, […]
November 21, 2024
The Jan Yperman Hospital, located in a rather enclosed region in Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium, has deployed drones to transport blood samples automatically. The new drone system operates fully automatically and combines 5G technology with a high-tech drone cargo port (DCP)—a world first, it claims. Last week, the British NHS also deployed drones to quickly […]
November 21, 2024
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 […]
November 13, 2024
Lufthansa and the Italian government have agreed to take over ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia, after tough negotiations, the Italian Finance Ministry announced. The documents were delivered to the European Commission before the deadline. The EC had previously imposed conditions on the deal to safeguard competition, such as giving up some flight rights or slots. €325 […]
November 11, 2024
The private jet sector is emitting more and more greenhouse gases. Between 2019 and 2023, greenhouse gas emissions from private aviation nearly doubled. That’s according to a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Last year alone, private aviation accounted for 15,6 million tons of CO2 emissions. In 2019, it was 10,7 million tons, or […]
November 06, 2024
Brussels Airlines has chosen the Atomium as the new design for painting one of its aircraft. The Atomium design was chosen from the five most popular designs out of more than 900 entries. The winner of the design competition is Thomas Faes, a Belgian architect. “The Atomium has been luring visitors to Belgium for years, […]
October 30, 2024
From the summer of 2025, Brussel Airlines will employ job students on its flights. This will be a first for the airline. The students will receive the same training and pay as other cabin crew. Brussels Airlines wants to start with up to 60 job students, who will come in addition to the normal temporary […]
October 29, 2024
Xpeng Aeroht, the flying car subsidiary of Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng, has started constructing a new factory in Guangzhou to produce its modular flying car. The company plans to build 10,000 of the actual aircraft components here, an eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) drone-like two-seater. The three-axle parent vehicle that carries and recharges the […]
October 28, 2024
According to a new Oxfam report titled ‘Carbon Inequality Kills’, super-rich Europeans, with their investments and intensive use of superyachts and private planes, emit as much greenhouse gases in one week as the world’s poorest one percent do in their entire lives. In other words, fifty of the wealthiest billionaires in the world emit more […]
October 21, 2024
Stay Grounded, a network of organizations wanting to phase out aviation, calls for a European tax on frequent flyers. This would apply from the third flight per year. According to Stay Grounded, such a tax could reduce aviation’s CO2 emissions by a fifth and generate billions to invest in the climate transition. Globally, 1% of […]
October 16, 2024
Will Brussels Airlines again have a well-known Belgian comic book figure on the fuselage of one of their planes alongside Tintin? That might be lonesome cowboy Lucky Luke, the hero initially conceived by Morris, aka Maurice De Bevere. He has been chosen, along with the Atomium, Cycling, Poppies, and Shrimp Fishermen, among the five most […]
October 15, 2024
British low-cost airline EasyJet has appointed Belgian Jan De Raeymaeker as CFO. The company announced this on Monday. De Raeymaeker is currently the finance director of Lineas, a rail operator. At easyJet, De Raeymaeker succeeds Kenton Jarvis, who becomes CEO, replacing Johan Lundgren. De Raeymaeker will start working at EasyJet in January. His annual salary […]
October 09, 2024
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary plans to abolish the paper boarding pass and allow online check-in only. The measure, which would apply from May next year, would save costs. Ryanair desks would disappear at airports, and every passenger would have to check in via smartphone. An additional surcharge already applies now, but eventually, O’Leary wants to […]
October 01, 2024
European aircraft maker Airbus will build a new campus for training and flight operations in its home port of Toulouse. The Toulouse site, the only center in Europe to provide training on all the European aircraft manufacturer’s programs, will accommodate 600 people starting in 2026. Airbus forecasts that more than 40,000 new aircraft could enter […]
September 30, 2024
Brussels Airport and air traffic controller Skeyes are starting demonstration flights with landings at a steeper angle on Tuesday. This test aims to analyze whether there is a positive impact on noise pollution, CO2 emissions, and fuel consumption. The tests are part of the HERON (Highly Efficient Green Operations) project, a broad international consortium of […]
September 27, 2024
European aircraft maker Airbus is reorganizing its production to better respond to supply chain disruptions and its main competitors, the American Boeing and the ambitious Chinese Comac. It is doing so under the banner ‘LEAD!’. The new strategy includes structurally improving performance by simplifying the organization, cost savings, and not hiring new staff, but there […]
September 26, 2024
High-speed train operator Eurostar and the airline alliance SkyTeam will work together to offer integrated tickets. They have signed a memorandum of understanding to this end. The intention is to offer joint trips combining long- and medium-haul flights on the one hand and Eurostar train rides on the other, starting in the first half of […]
September 16, 2024
Brussels Airlines’ fleet will be expanded with three new A330 long-haul aircraft, the first of which is expected in mid-2025. With four leased short-haul aircraft, Brussels Airlines will offer 14% more seats next summer while reserving 100 million euros for brand-new cabins. With 13 jets, the long-haul fleet has never been so large and is […]
September 12, 2024
From the end of October, Latin American airline LATAM Cargo is tripling the number of flights at Brussels Airport from four to twelve per week. Cargo activity is also on the rise at Liège Airport, which has gained two new cargo connections, respectively to Hangzhou in China and Oakland in the United States. The tripling […]
September 04, 2024
The new Swedish government, a right-wing minority government with tacit support from the radical-right Sweden Democrats, will abolish the ‘flyswatter’, or flight tax, introduced by the previous red-green government on July 1st next year. “Sweden depends on competition in the airline industry,” says Sweden Democrats group chairman Linda Lindberg. “Companies and individuals need air travel, […]
September 03, 2024
Lufthansa’s big boss, Carsten Spohr, met yesterday with members of the Portuguese government about a possible stake by the German airline group in TAP. According to Italian business newspaper Corriere della Sera, Lufthansa is interested in taking a 19.9% stake in the publicly owned Portuguese airline. Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and British Airways parent company IAG […]
August 30, 2024
Several environmental organizations are suing the European Commission for not imposing sufficiently strict CO2 standards on member states under the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming. First and foremost, they are calling for fossil-fuel-powered planes and ships to be removed from the EU’s list of sustainable investments, which they say is an example of greenwashing. […]
August 29, 2024
The ministerial instruction of outgoing Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) preventing the use of Boeing 777 aircraft at Brussels Airport at night has been suspended. The Minister said this in the Parliamentary Committee on Mobility. If consultations with the Flemish government come to nothing, it will be up to the next federal government to resolve […]
August 28, 2024
Brussels Airlines will soon introduce a new Belgian Icon, following the tribute to Tintin, the Smurfs, Tomorrowland, and the Red Devils, to name but a few. This time, the public may devise a design for a new painted airplane again. Beer, French fries, chocolate, and waffles are out of the question, but otherwise, almost anything […]
August 23, 2024
Brian Niccol, Starbucks’ new top executive, will be provided a jet by the American coffeehouse chain group to fly from his home in California to its headquarters in Seattle. That’s about 1,600 km. Niccol takes office on Monday, September 9th, but so is already under fire, while others accuse the firm of hypocrisy, with some […]
August 20, 2024
The Belgian government introduced a flight tax of two to ten euros for short flights under 500 km two years ago, and that tax raised more than 40 million euros last year, according to the newspaper Le Soir. Last year, more than 800 passenger flights by private jets were conducted over less than 500 kilometers. […]
August 20, 2024
Most airlines still have a long way to go in using sustainable jet fuel, despite their promise to get at least 10% of their fuel from sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, by the decade’s end. That’s according to an analysis by Bloomberg Green. American Airlines does not excel in the use of SAFs, while airlines […]
August 09, 2024
Flying is getting safer and safer. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that the risk of dying on a plane flight has halved every decade since the late 1960s. Between 2018 and 2022, the average was one death for every 13.7 million passengers worldwide, compared with one death for every 7.9 […]
August 07, 2024
Schiphol Airport is the first worldwide to test a hydrogen-powered Ground Power Unit (GPU). The H2-GPU can power KLM Cityhopper aircraft on-site, for example, for lighting and power in the cockpit. These new GPUs are more environmentally friendly than battery-based and diesel GPUs. The test is part of the TULIPS partnership initiated by Schiphol and […]
August 05, 2024
The Flemish government is invoking a conflict of interest regarding federal Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) ‘s decision to prevent parcel company DHL from landing or taking off in Zaventem with Boeing 777 aircraft. According to Gilkinet, DHL does not comply with night-time noise standards. In turn, Flemish Periphery Minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) says Gilkinet […]
August 01, 2024
As expected, Lufthansa’s second-quarter profit almost halved compared to the same period last year. Net profit came in at 469 million euros, down from 881 million euros in 2023, or a 47% drop year-on-year. Due to increasing competition and overcapacity on certain lines, the group cannot sustain the high ticket prices after the coronavirus pandemic. […]
July 24, 2024
Despite nearly 6,000 submitted objections, the airport in Deurne, also known as Antwerp Airport, has been granted a new environmental permit by Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). The open-ended permit does come with “strict conditions.” For example, there will be a ban on night flights, noise standards will be established, a noise wall must […]
July 23, 2024
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair saw profits nearly halve in the first quarter. Still, the airline expects ticket prices in the second quarter to remain lower than last summer, whereas previously, the company was still assuming stable or slightly higher prices. Summer is a crucial time for airlines. It is the period when they make the […]
July 23, 2024
Boeing’s 777X, the biggest dual-engine commercial airplane in the world, is expected to fly through the skies starting in 2025. The American aircraft manufacturer also expects that the global fleet of commercial aircraft will grow to more than 50,000 aircraft in 20 years, about double its current fleet. Major competitor Airbus is not sitting idle […]
