Air Belgium adds new long-haul routes from Brussels; also flying for Corsair and Surinam Airways

Air Belgium (IATA code KF) launched its first scheduled service on 7 December 2019. Back then it operated from Brussels CRL to Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) and Fort-de-France (Martinique) using an A340-300. Since then, it has expanded its passenger aircraft fleet to two A340-300s (registration OO-ABA and OO-ABB) and two A330-900s (OO-ABF and OO-ABG).

While the Charleroi services continue to operate, the airline has added flights from Brussels BRU this winter. The first route, a 2-weekly service to Mauritius, was added on 15 October. Two months later, on 15 December, the airline introduced 2-weekly service to Punta Cana and Curaçao. These new routes were celebrated with an impressive cake.

According to Cirium Data and Analytics schedule information for January 2022, Air Belgium will only be operating flights on four days of the week; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It will not be departing from any airports on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Operating flights for other carriers

Clearly the current route network is not big enough to justify a fleet of four long-haul aircraft. Analysis of information from flightradar24.com reveals what the airline’s fleet has been up to during the week 10-16 December, apart from operating its own Air Belgium flights:

• A340-300 (OO-ABA): Operated flights for Corsair between Paris ORY and Abidjan, and for Surinam Airways between Amsterdam and Paramaribo.
• A340-300 (OO-ABB): Operated flights for Surinam Airways between Amsterdam and Paramaribo.
• A330-900 (OO-ABF): Aircraft was delivered to Air Belgium on 14 December. Will start operations in the new year.
• A330-900 (OO-ABG): Operated flights for Corsair between Paris ORY and Abidjan.

In previous weeks, Air Belgium aircraft had also operated on behalf of Qatar Airways between Brussels BRU and Doha.