Air Belgium’s search for investors to save it from bankruptcy now hangs by a thread, after an extended deadline for expressions of interest passed on 8 November 2024.
The airline, founded by Niki Terzakis in 2016, attempted a restructure and pivot towards business-to-business or so-called ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) services in September 2023. Despite that move, it has seen revenues continuing to plummet through 2024, but has so far been protected from creditors in a judicial reorganisation as it has sought takers for its cargo and passenger operations.
Who are the potential buyers?
Only one party had shown any interest in acquiring both sides of the business, and has since withdrawn, according to Bernard Vanham, the court-appointed receiver for the case. Five interested parties remain, of which three appeared reasonably serious, according to Belgian business newspaper L’Echo, and they were said to be looking at the possibility of partial takeovers and partnerships to manage the areas of the business they are interested in.
The matter is made more difficult by question marks about how much Wallonian authorities might be prepared to stump up to sweeten a deal. Some have put the figure requested by one buyer at 10 to 12 million euros, and that comes on top of millions of government funds already poured into keeping the airline afloat.
Only competent European buyers
Another spanner in the works of a deal is the fact the airline is partly owned already by Chinese logistics group Hongyuan and cannot increase the stake held by non-European investors without losing its Belgian operating licence. This means the company is limited to negotiating with European investors, who must also demonstrate expertise in the industry, have a solid financial base, and undertake to maintain the airline’s slots.
With the 8 November midnight deadline gone, the airline’s last passenger aircraft returned to its lessor after a swansong journey on behalf of LOT from New York JFK to Warsaw, and no updates forthcoming, things seem bleak.
Promises broken
The airline’s 400 employees, of which there are 150 cabin crew, will now be fearing the worst: potential unemployment until December. The atmosphere at the company is not good, according to Mickael Blonneau, of the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium, who told L’Echo: “The workers are quite tense since they were promised at the last meeting that the dossier would be all sewn up by October.”
According to Aviation24, more and more employees are already choosing to take matters into their own hands by finding alternative work elsewhere but meanwhile, Air Belgium’s cargo operations limp on with four aircraft continuing to provide services to clients like Air France and DHL.
