During March 2008 Brussels Airport
handled a total of 21.800 movements. Almost the same
number as during March 2007 when 21.817 movements were
counted
Antwerp Airport handled 4.278
flights (1.707 IFR and 2.571 VFR) or 30,86% less than
during March 2007. Charleroi Airport also saw a
reduction in the number of flights, minus 24,26 % or
6.812 flights (2.629 IFR and 4.183 VFR) Liège counted
3.624 movements (2.452 IFR and 1.172 VFR) or 13,22% less
than during March 2007. And Ostend Airport had 5.626
flights (1.389 IFR and 4.237 VFR) or only 7,09% less
than during the previous year. We can only presume that
the unfavourable weather conditions were a major factor
in the reduction of the number of flights at all Belgian
regional airports.
April 16th
50
years Lufthansa at Brussels Airport
On 1 April 1958 Lufthansa started
regular flights to Brussels Airport. Today this major
carrier offers around 30 flights per day and has around
1.400 passengers daily. On a weekly basis Lufthansa
offers 215 flights from Brussels to eight German cities
(Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munchen,
Nurenberg and Stuttgart)
Three Belgian citizens survive crash at Goma (Congo)
Three Belgian citizens, including
an employee of the Royal Museum for Central Africa,
survived the crash of a Mc Donnell Douglas DC.9-15
operated by Hewa Bora. The aircraft crashed immediately
after take-off from Goma Airport. 65 of the 85
passengers survived the accident but dozens of people
living close to the airport are reported killed.
April 13th
Fuel
surcharge on flight with Belgian airlines
The major Belgian airlines
(Brussels Airlines, Jetair and Thomas Cook) will raise
ticket prices as a result of the higher fuel costs. The
extra cost will be 3 to 10 Euros on short haul flights
and up to 20 Euros for long haul destinations. The
airlines stated that they already implemented several
measures to reduce fuel costs but that, due to rising
prices, they have no alternative than adapting ticket
prices.
Hewa Bora on EU blacklist
Hewa
Bora Airlines was recently added to the EU blacklist of
‘unsafe’ airlines that are not allowed to fly into
European airspace. Hewa Bora has 51% of the shares in to
newly formed airline Air DC. Brussels Airlines has 49%
of the shares in this company. At this moment we don’t
have any idea of the impact of this decision on the
start of this new Belgian/Congolese airline.
April 10th
More
profit for Brussels Airlines
Last year, Brussels Airlines
realized a profit of 23,1 mil. Euro. Most important
factor for this result is the good exchange rate between
the Euro and the Dollar. It is also clear that a major
part of this profit was realized on the African network.
Because of the rising fuel-prices, the expected profit
for 2008 will probably be lower.
BATA appoints secretary-general
The Belgian Air Transport
Assocation (BATA) representing the Belgian airlines,
appointed Ignace Bral as secretary-general. He will
represent the organisation in talks with Brussels
Airport and the government. Important issues on his
agenda are the new low-cost terminal at Brussels Airport
and the problems regarding taxes on pilot salaries.
April 3rd
6
million passengers for Thomas Cook
Last Tuesday, Thomas Cook Airlines
transported its 6 millionth passenger from Brussels
Airport. This lucky traveller, a Dutch citizen, received
a voucher, allowing free transport on Thomas Cook
aircraft during 2008. About 10 % of the Thomas Cook
passengers come from abroad, most of them from Holland.
55% are Flemish, 45% are from the French speaking part
of the country.
April 2nd
Strong
results for Aviapartner
2007 was a very successful year
for handling company Aviapartner. They handled 49% more
freight and the number of passenger flights rose with
19%. In Belgium, the company handled a total of 392.000
tons of freight (+ 14%). This rise was realised after MK
Airlines at Ostend became a, Aviapartner customer.
March 31st
Restrictions
for Sint-Truiden/Brustem airfield
The operations at the former
military airbase will be seriously restricted. Only
aircraft under 30 tons MTOW and a maximum of 19
passengers will be allowed. But… all flights have to be
in connection with a company based on the airfield. De
operational length of the runway will be limited to
1.199 m. All recreational flying will be prohibited.
Operations will be even more restricted on Saturday and
the airfield will be closed on Sunday ! We can only
assume that the local authorities have other plans with
these site !
Hot air balloon for Sint Truiden
Although they restricted flying at
the local airfield seriously, the local council recently
ordered an hot air balloon. They see this balloon as a
unique means to promote the region. After the success of
the recent TV-series ‘Katarakt’ the Haspengouw-region
became very popular as a destination for a short holiday.
March 30th
More profit for Sabca
Sabca finished 2007 with a net
profit of 9,92 million Euro’s, compared to 6,57 million
in 2006. The company realized a turnover of 126 million
Euro’s. The company is doing well in the growing
worldwide aviation business. But, the current Dollar
exchange rate remains a major concern, not only for
Sabca, but for the complete aviation-industry.
March 25th
New Belgian ballooning record
Balloonist Luc
Herdewijn, Olen (B) now officially holds the Belgian
record or the longest flight. On February 17th, his team
stayed in the air for 10 hours, 29 minutes and some odd
seconds.
The last record
dated from February 1984.
Sharp traffic-rise during February 2008
During February 2008, Belgocontrol
handled a total of 91.527 flights or 19,47 % more than
during the same month in 2007 Brussels airport handled
21.94 movements (+ 11.91%) Antwerp airport counted 5.773
flights (2.043 IFR and 3.690 VFR) or + 24,55% !
Charleroi airport had 8.386 flights (2.816 VFR and 5.570
IFR) or + 51.95%. Liège/Bierset handled 4.210 (2.368 IFR
and 1.842 VFR) or + 41.89%. And Ostende airport handled
6.116 flights during February 2008 (1.245 IFR and 4.871
VFR) or 55,39% more than during the same month in 2007.
(source : Belgocontrol)
March 20th
Corendon moves flight from Maastricht/Beek to Liège
Bierset airport
Turkish
holidaycarrier Corendon will move his weekly connection
from Maastricht/Beek Airport to the holiday resort
Antalya to Liège/Bierset on 1 July 2008. This is a
reaction on the introduction, in Holland, of an
additional tax on airline-tickets, in this case an
additional 45 Euros. The company will also fly from
Brussels to Antalya every day during next summer.
Flights from Amsterdam will be cancelled.
March 15th
New
aircraft for RAAC
The Royal Antwerp Aviation Club (RAAC)
will today, baptize it's newest aircraft a Piper Warrior
III at the Stampe & Vertongen Museum. The new aircraft
is fitted with a "glass cockpit" making it the first of
its kind to fly with a Belgian Aeroclub.
ASL
obtains Eurami certification for medevac-flights
Antwerp based
air taxi-operators ASL obtained, in cooperation with
Brussels based International Medevac Services (I.M.S.),
the Eurami accredition for fixed wing ‘special
transport’. This standard guarantees the highest
medical as well as aviation standards during medical
flights. For this type of operations ASL will use the
Beech F.90 OO-IAL and the Beech 1900 OO-PHB
March 5th
Daily flight to United Arab Emirates
Due
to the high number of passengers on their flights from
Abu Dhabi to Brussels, Etihad Airways will start to fly
this route on a daily basis. Only last November the
frequency was raised from three to four flights per
week.
March 4th
Daily Air Maroc cargo flight
Royal
Air Maroc Cargo will operate a daily Casablanca -
Brussels cargo flight starting on 29 March 2008. The
company will use a Boeing 737-300F on this route.
March 3rd
Wizz Air will start new service from
Charleroi
Low-cost
carrier Wizz Air will start a new service from Charleroi
on 24 July. They will fly to the Bulgarian capital Sofia
using Airbus A.320 aircraft. The company already flies
to Boedapest, Warschau and Katowice. The service to
Ljubljana was removed from the timetable.
EasyJet
starts additional service from Brussels
Starting
on 18 June, EasyJet will fly from Brussels to Milaan/Malpensa
on a daily basis. Because it is difficult to attract
business-passengers if a destination is not serviced at
least twice a day, EasyJet intends to double the
frequency on this new destination very soon.
Saturday May 17th, 2008 - 9am till 4pm
at the Stampe & Vertongen Museum
Antwerp International Airport
The RAAC is looking for information on the
colourscheme of OO-ANI that flew with the club in
the 30's.. Can anyone help us with this?
Not
so long ago, we were all so proud of having one of the oldest airport
buildings in Europe which was still in use and nearly as authentic as it
could be. Now some architect has decided to demolish one of the most
characteristic aspects of Jazinsky's design: namely the rounded side next
to the Stampe and Vertongen Museum.
It is with pain in the heart that we see this being
torn down and hope that end result will be as nice and in accordance with
the rest of the building as is the new arrival hall, where the architect
nicely followed the lines of the old design.
We'll see...
You are visitor
since april 2003
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The history of the airfield of Aalst, compiled by Gaston De Mol
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