New Business Plan: Air Belgium Launching Caribbean Flights

This is sort of like that time Baltia changed their business model to go from flying 747s between New York and Russia, to flying regional jets between BALtimore, Trenton, Islip, and Albany. Okay, maybe it’s not quite as bad, but it sure does represent a significant change.

What is Air Belgium?

For those of you not familiar with Air Belgium, they’re a Charleroi-based airline that started flying to Hong Kong in June 2018. The airline has four Airbus A340-300s that used to fly for Finnair, and their initial plan was to operate those planes exclusively from Charleroi to destinations in Asia, with a particular focus on China.

Air Belgium A340

Long story short, the route lasted for a few weeks (and I was lucky enough to review it while it was around), because the business model was kinda whack. First they delayed the Hong Kong route, then they operated it temporarily, then they suspended it, then they announced it was returning, and then they canceled it again.

They promised that they’d move forward with other routes to China, which also obviously wasn’t going to happen.

So in the meantime Air Belgium has been acting as a wet lease charter company. With many airlines needing extra planes due to the 787 being grounded, Air Belgium is operating flights on behalf of other airlines, which to me seems like the only way they won’t lose money.

Air Belgium business class

Air Belgium launching flights to French Antilles

It seems that Air Belgium has abandoned plans for Asia, as Air Belgium will now be launching flights to the French Antilles. Air Belgium will launch 2x weekly flights from Brussels Charleroi to Fort-de-France, Martinique, and Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, as of December 7, 2019.

Stop dreaming! Start packing! AB takes you to Martinique and Guadeloupe. Sunshine guaranteed! 😎☀️✈️#AirBelgium #SimplyFlyAway #Guadeloupe #Martinique #Belgium pic.twitter.com/rSrr3TTBS8

— Air Belgium (@Airbelgium) July 16, 2019

I imagine this route will be seasonal, and the plan is for reservations to open on Monday, July 22, 2019. It’s not entirely clear whether the airline is operating two separate flights here, if they’re operating a tag flight, or if this is a triangle flight. My guess is that this will be a triangle flight, given that the two airports are only 120 miles apart, though I guess we’ll see.

Bottom line

I’m not sure these routes will work great for Air Belgium, given the reputation they have, their historical unreliability, their lack of partners, and also that these are pretty low yield routes. However, it does seem to me like seasonal flights to the Caribbean have a better chance of working than year-round flights to China.

What I’m most curious about is if their plan going forward is to just lease out three of their planes, and operate just two weekly flights with the last one? Or do they plan on adding more scheduled flights? I feel like there is a benefit to operating more flights in terms of marketing costs, etc., but I’m also not sure there’s a market for many of the routes they’re trying to operate.

What do you make of Air Belgium’s new service to the French Antilles?

(Tip of the hat to @fotograaf)