Air Belgium

Air Belgium is one of those airlines whose history you can trace almost completely in your own photo archive – provided you were out and about in Belgium in recent years. Used A340s at Charleroi, brand-new A330neos in Brussels, A330 freighters in Liège and finally jumbo freighters: in less than ten years the company reinvented itself several times. This page sorts out the phases and shows you how to recognize the aircraft.

Air Belgium at a glance

Air Belgium is a Belgian airline based in Mont-Saint-Guibert, a town southeast of Brussels in the province of Walloon Brabant. It was founded on May 27, 2016. Behind the project was Niky Terzakis, who had previously headed TNT Airways – the cargo airline from Liège that now flies as ASL Airlines Belgium. The start-up capital of around 20 million euros came from European and Asian investors.

The idea was ambitious: after the end of Sabena, Belgium was to get its own long-haul airline to Asia again, one that doesn’t stand in the shadow of Brussels Airlines and its Lufthansa network. Originally destinations like Hong Kong and several cities in mainland China were planned. In the end only Hong Kong launched – and not for long either.

Important for putting it in context: there was once before an Air Belgium, a charter airline that flew from 1979 to 2000. It has nothing to do with today’s company except the name. If you come across the name in databases or old photo collections, it pays to check the date.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code KF: appeared in the flight numbers of scheduled flights, for example to Mauritius or the Caribbean.
• ICAO code ABB: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers – also on many cargo flights.
• Callsign AIR BELGIUM: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

With Air Belgium the ICAO code matters more to you than the flight number. A large part of the business ran and runs as ACMI – that is, aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance as a package for a customer. Then another airline sells the tickets or the cargo space, and its flight number appears at the gate or in the cargo system. The difference between such deployments and classic scheduled service is explained in the article Charter flight vs. scheduled flight.

Phase 1: A340 from Charleroi to Hong Kong

Before Air Belgium could open its first route of its own, it needed its air operator certificate. That only came in March 2018, much later than planned. The launch airport changed too: instead of Brussels-Zaventem, as originally intended, operations began at Brussels South Charleroi Airport. For an airport that otherwise lives mainly off low-cost carriers, a four-engine long-haul jet was an unaccustomed sight.

The very first commercial deployment on March 29, 2018 was a contract flight for Surinam Airways between Amsterdam and Paramaribo. The airline’s own route Charleroi–Hong Kong started on June 3, 2018, after the originally planned date at the end of April had to be postponed because of missing overflight rights over Russia. The route ran for only one summer: in September 2018 it was suspended for the winter, and in early 2019 Air Belgium gave it up for good.

The airline flew the Airbus A340-300, a used four-engine aircraft with long range. In total Air Belgium used four A340-300s. For many spotters this was one of the last chances to photograph the type regularly at a Belgian airport.

Phase 2: the Caribbean, COVID and farewell to the A340

After Hong Kong the focus turned west. In December 2019 Air Belgium started flights from Charleroi to Fort-de-France on Martinique and Pointe-à-Pitre on Guadeloupe – a market where Air France, Corsair and Air Caraïbes also operate. Shortly afterward the COVID pandemic brought flying almost to a standstill. In December 2020 the Caribbean flights resumed.

The A340 chapter ended on March 26, 2022: OO-ABB landed at Charleroi from Pointe-à-Pitre and was the last four-engine aircraft in service for Air Belgium. If you look closely, you quickly find the differences between the A340 and its successor – the guide A330 or A340? shows you the features from engines to landing gear.

Phase 3: A330neo and the move to Brussels

To replace the A340s, Air Belgium brought in two Airbus A330-900s. The first, OO-ABG, arrived in October 2021, the second, OO-ABF, about two months later. At the same time scheduled service shifted to Brussels Airport: from October 15, 2021, Air Belgium flew from there to Mauritius. Later Africa moved more into focus – in 2023 the program concentrated on Mauritius and South Africa. Two older A330-200s were added as well.

In parallel the aircraft earned money on wet lease. The A330neos flew for Condor for a time, including for a few weeks between Frankfurt and Punta Cana, and one aircraft was later leased to LOT Polish Airlines. Anyone who saw an A330neo with an OO registration in Frankfurt back then therefore very likely had Air Belgium in front of the lens.

Of all things, the most modern aircraft became the problem. Belgian media reported difficulties with the Trent 7000 engines from Rolls-Royce. On August 21, 2023, OO-ABF turned back on its way from Brussels to Johannesburg and stayed on the ground afterward. In January 2024 Air Belgium announced it would give up both A330-900s; according to ch-aviation, the last one left the fleet in November 2024. How such lease returns work is explained in the article Aircraft leasing.

Phase 4: cargo from Liège and the 747-8F

As early as January 2021 Air Belgium announced a second line of business: pure cargo flights with four Airbus A330-200Fs from Liège Airport. The aircraft, former freighters of Qatar Airways, belonged to the French shipping group CMA CGM; Air Belgium provided crew and operations. Three of the aircraft later moved directly to CMA CGM Air Cargo. The last one, OO-SEA, most recently flew on behalf of Air France and went back to the lessor in October 2023.

Another partner was China’s Hongyuan Group, which raised its stake to 49 percent in early 2022. For it Air Belgium operated the largest aircraft in the company’s history: Boeing 747-8Fs. At the end of 2023, according to ch-aviation, there were three 747-8Fs in the fleet, and two in September 2024. Two A330 freighters from passenger conversions were added, that is A330-200P2Fs. They were leased from Altavair and left the fleet in 2025 because Air Belgium wanted to concentrate on freighters with more than 100 tonnes of payload.

Type	Role	Period	Spotter note
Airbus A340-300	Passengers, long-haul	2018–2022	Four engines, historical
Airbus A330-900	Passengers, scheduled and wet lease	2021–2024	Sharklets, Trent 7000, historical
Airbus A330-200	Passengers	until 2024	Classic A330 without sharklets, historical
Airbus A330-200F	Cargo for CMA CGM	2021–2023	Factory freighter, historical
Airbus A330-200P2F	Cargo	about 2022–2025	Conversion from passenger aircraft, historical
Boeing 747-8F	Cargo, including for Hongyuan	2023 at the latest, to this day	Longest 747, serrated engines

After the A330P2Fs left in 2025, fleet sources list only two Boeing 747-8Fs. The information on Air Belgium’s website is not always up to date. Before a targeted trip, therefore, check the current situation in a fleet database.

Restructuring, bankruptcy and CMA CGM

The passenger flights never paid off. As early as the end of 2022 Air Belgium needed fresh capital to avert bankruptcy. On September 18, 2023, the board of directors pulled the plug: the company applied for a court-supervised reorganization procedure and announced it would end scheduled service on October 3, 2023. According to ch-aviation, losses of more than 119 million euros had accumulated since its founding.

In the end even that was not enough. On April 30, 2025, the commercial court of Walloon Brabant declared Air Belgium NV insolvent. On the same day CMA CGM took over the cargo business with 124 jobs, including 72 pilots. The Air Belgium brand has continued since then within the group’s air freight division. That puts Air Belgium on a long list of Belgian airline changes – from Sabena through Sobelair to VLM Airlines. You can find the bigger picture in the overview of major airline failures in Europe.

How to recognize Air Belgium

With an airline that so often flies for others, the livery is not a reliable feature. Sometimes the aircraft wore their own colors, sometimes neutral or other companies’ liveries. That is why it pays to look at the details that don’t change.

With the freighters, knowing your types helps. The 747-8F is the longest version of the jumbo: look for the serrated trailing edges of the GEnx engine nacelles, the swept-back wingtips without a classic winglet and the short upper deck without a row of windows. How to tell it from the older 747-400F is shown in the guide Boeing 747-100 to 747-8.

With the A330 freighters there is a subtle difference: factory-new A330-200Fs have a conspicuous fairing under the nose that lowers the nose gear and so keeps the cargo hold level. Converted A330P2Fs usually don’t have this bulge. You can find more features for freighters without windows in the article Recognizing freight aircraft.

Spotting Air Belgium

Classic spotting days with a guaranteed Air Belgium visit no longer exist. Scheduled service has been discontinued, and the freighters fly wherever a contract is waiting. Even so, Belgian airports are worth a look: at Liège freight traffic is the core business – locations for it are shown at the Liège Airport spotting spot – and at Brussels the Steenokkerzeel spotter zone offers you an official spot right at the runway.

For historical pictures, Charleroi and Brussels are the places where the A340 and A330neo could be seen regularly. These photos are among the sought-after evidence of a short fleet era today. The article Understanding aircraft registrations helps you with classification.

Common mix-ups

• Equating Air Belgium (2016) with Air Belgium (1979–2000) – two completely different companies with the same name.
• Confusing Air Belgium with Brussels Airlines – Brussels Airlines is the network airline in the Lufthansa Group, Air Belgium was an independent long-haul newcomer.
• Mixing up the A340 and A330 – counting helps: four engines on the A340, two on the A330.
• Taking an A330neo with an OO registration in Frankfurt for Condor – during the wet lease, Air Belgium flew there for Condor.
• Taking every A330 freighter for a factory freighter – the fairing under the nose separates the A330-200F and the P2F.
• Confusing Air Belgium with ASL Airlines Belgium – both cargo airlines have roots in Belgium, but different codes and owners.

Conclusion

In a few years Air Belgium has experienced more change than some airlines do in decades: from the A340 adventure at Charleroi through modern A330neos with engine problems to a cargo airline with jumbo freighters. For spotters that means two things. The passenger fleet is closed history and thus a clearly defined area to collect. The current cargo fleet, by contrast, showed up irregularly and demands a watchful eye on trackers, registrations and customers.