Aviation Society of Antwerp

AVIATION SOCIETY of ANTWERP vzw

Antwerp Int'l Airport

Box 38

2100 Antwerpen

BELGIUM

tel : +32 3 230 27 31

fax : +32 3 322 15 13

arrival

departure/arrival

MARCH

movements now on-line

MARCH

movements now on-line

April 18^th

Traffic figures March 2008

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 16^th
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 13^th
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 10^th
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 3^rd
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 2^nd
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 31^st
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 30^th
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 25^th
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 20^th

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 15^th
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 5^th
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 4^th
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 3^rd
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?

Please contact the webmaster.

Click here for participants list

Photographs to follow asap

MG motorcars visiting Stampe & Vertongen

on 13/04/2008

Engine on the blocks on 12/04/2008

Pictures now available

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...