Several Belgian businessmen are collaborating in the take-off of a new airline.
One of these businessmen is Niky Terzakis, the former managing director of TNT Airways, based in Liège. Using the trading name Air Belgium, he wishes to operate flights between Belgium and Asia (mainly China and India) from next year.
This is reported both in Travel Magazine and a series of sites specialising in the airline industry. In the 80s and 90s, there was a charter airline using the name Air Belgium. It offered flights to the Mediterranean on behalf of the former company Sunair.
The new company’s business plan principally entails offering flights to China and other cities of the Far East and South East Asia. Mr Terzakis says that the first Air Belgium flights should take place in the second or third quarter of 2017. The company is likely to focus on long haul flights. Moreover, at the time of writing, the company has yet to decide which airport to operate from (Brussels or Liège) and which type of plane to use.
The company Air Belgium (which was founded on 27 May this year) has established its headquarters in Ixelles, providing an initial start-up capital of 5 million euros. Capital injections have been made by two Hong Kong based companies, Pioneer Topworld Ltd and Sky Master Holdings Ltd.
The Brussels Time