VLM Airlines

If you stood at London City Airport in the 1990s and 2000s, you could hardly miss it: a Fokker 50 with “VLM” titles, squeezing between the Docklands towers on its steep approach. VLM Airlines from Antwerp was Flanders’ small but tenacious regional airline for over a quarter century. Here you will learn how the airline came about, why the Fokker 50 became its trademark, what it had to do with Air France-KLM and CityJet, and how it finally vanished from the sky in 2018.

VLM Airlines at a glance

VLM Airlines was a Belgian regional airline based in Deurne, right at Antwerp Airport. The name stands for Vlaamse Luchttransportmaatschappij, roughly “Flemish Air Transport Company”. The company was founded in February 1992, according to Dutch-language sources by the Belgian aviation entrepreneur Freddy Van Gaever. The first scheduled flight took off in May 1993 – and fittingly it went from Antwerp to London City.

This connection remained the heart of the airline. VLM focused on business travelers between the Benelux countries, Great Britain and Germany. For a long time, the airline advertised an unusual service for short-haul flights: freshly prepared meals, drinks in glasses, porcelain cups and special meals on request. After the integration into CityJet, the short-haul offering shrank to sandwiches and drinks.

The growth was considerable: from a single aircraft, the fleet grew to 19 by 2006, almost all of them Fokker 50s. That same year VLM carried around 682,000 passengers, generated almost 100 million euros in revenue and employed about 425 people. For 2007 the airline reported around 745,800 passengers, revenue of 112 million euros and a profit of 3.6 million euros.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code VG: appeared before flight numbers, on tickets and on departure boards.
• ICAO code VLM: identical to the brand name and therefore easy to remember – this is how the flights appeared to air traffic control.
• Callsign RUBENS: On the radio, crews identified themselves as “Rubens” – a name that recalls Antwerp’s most famous painter.

If you go through old timetables, boarding passes or logbooks, “VG” before the flight number until 2018 is usually a clear sign of VLM. How IATA and ICAO codes relate to each other is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. You can read more about callsigns that sound completely different from the airline name under Airline callsigns and their history.

The history in stages

London City: the lifeline

London City Airport in the Docklands had opened only in 1987 and was designed for small, quiet aircraft with a short landing distance. The glide path there is 5.5 degrees instead of the usual 3 degrees – a steep approach that not every aircraft type can handle. The Fokker 50 was one of the types regularly seen at London City.

VLM recognized early on how attractive an airport near London’s financial district is for business travelers. Even the first flight in 1993 went there, and at times the airline even shifted its focus from Antwerp to London City. After the management buyout in 2014, Antwerp moved back to the center. VLM flew the Antwerp–London City route on behalf of CityJet until mid-2016, before it resumed it under its own operation after the restart in October 2017.

The fleet: all in on the Fokker 50

VLM was one of Europe’s typical Fokker 50 airlines. The turboprop from the Netherlands was the successor to the Fokker F27 Friendship and offered around 50 seats – just the right size for thin business-travel routes between mid-sized cities. You can read more about the manufacturer under Fokker.

Type	Period at VLM	Use	Spotter tip
Fokker 50	1990s–2018	Backbone of all scheduled services	50 seats, high wing, six-bladed propellers
BAe 146-300	2007–2008	Leased, fleet supplement	Four-engine high-wing jet
Airbus A320	from the end of 2017	Charter and ACMI from Brussels	Two aircraft ex Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium
Sukhoi Superjet 100	announced 2014	Never entered scheduled service	Plans abandoned in 2016

Fokker 50

No type stands for VLM as much as the Fokker 50. Until 2006, almost the entire fleet consisted of this type. After the restart in 2016/2017, too, it was Fokker 50s that carried the scheduled service: in the fall of 2017, six to seven aircraft flew for VLM, each with 50 seats. In August 2018, the airline announced it would retire the Fokker 50 and concentrate on charter flights with a different type – a few weeks later it was over anyway.

For you as a spotter, the Fokker 50 is interesting above all for one reason: it has become very rare in European scheduled service. Typical features are the six-bladed propellers, the slender nacelles under the high-mounted wing and the many small, rectangular windows. How to tell it apart from the ATR and Dash 8 is shown in the article How to tell turboprops apart.

BAe 146-300 and Airbus A320

Excursions into the jet world remained the exception at VLM. In 2007/2008, the airline operated a leased BAe 146-300. After the restart, VLM took over two Airbus A320s at the end of 2017 with the registrations OO-TCT and OO-TCX, which had previously flown for Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium. The first service under VLM went from Brussels to Eskişehir on November 11, 2017. One aircraft later went back to Thomas Cook, while OO-TCT stayed for charter and ACMI flights. The Brussels business went to a Dutch investor in February 2018 and was wound up in December 2018.

The Superjet that never came

In 2014, VLM announced it would lease two Sukhoi Superjet 100s, with options on twelve more. The Russian regional jet could have become the first real jet generation at VLM. Because of delays in European certification and the political tensions with Russia, the project was canceled in early 2016. So you won’t find photos of a Superjet in VLM colors in scheduled service.

The Air France-KLM and CityJet years

On December 24, 2007, Air France-KLM agreed to take over VLM completely from Panta Holdings, completed in early 2008. With the Irish CityJet, the group already owned a regional subsidiary with a strong presence at London City. In May 2009, Air France-KLM announced that VLM would gradually fly under the CityJet brand.

By June 1, 2010, all of VLM’s Fokker 50s wore the full CityJet livery. Technically, though, VLM remained its own airline: it kept its air operator certificate, and the aircraft stayed on the Belgian register. The full merger was never completed. For spotters, this created an interesting constellation: CityJet colors on the fuselage, but a Belgian OO- registration on the tail. The article on hybrid and mixed liveries explains such in-between states after takeovers.

At the end of 2013, Air France announced it would sell CityJet, including VLM, to the German investor Intro Aviation. The sale was completed in May 2014. Shortly afterward, VLM split off from CityJet: in October 2014, management took over the airline, and the then CEO Arthur White became the new majority owner. VLM now flew under its own flag again and additionally on ACMI contracts, meaning with aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance for other airlines. How this model works is explained in the article on wet lease and ACMI.

New bases after 2014

As an independent airline, VLM looked for new markets – with mixed success:

• Waterford (Ireland): At the end of April 2015, VLM took over connections from Waterford to Great Britain, including to London Luton and Birmingham. By the time of the 2016 insolvency at the latest, that was over.
• Liège: A base at Liège Airport closed in June 2015 after only about six weeks due to lack of demand.
• Friedrichshafen: After the end of InterSky, VLM stationed three aircraft at Friedrichshafen Airport until February 2016 and flew from there to Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg.

The Friedrichshafen episode in particular makes VLM interesting for German spotters too: for a few months, the Belgian Fokker 50s were regularly seen at several German airports.

Insolvency in 2016 and the restart

In spring 2016, VLM got into trouble. On May 13, 2016, the airline applied for creditor protection, with debts of around 6 million euros. The court initially granted six months of protection. When the ACMI partner People’s Viennaline terminated its contract on June 22, 2016, VLM filed for insolvency the same day. All flights were canceled immediately, the aircraft stayed on the ground, and around 160 jobs were affected.

But the name did not disappear. On September 9, 2016, SHS Antwerp Aviation, a subsidiary of the Dutch SHS Aviation, reached an agreement with the insolvency administrators. The new VLM started with Fokker 50s and a Slovenian offshoot in Maribor. On October 30, 2017, it returned to its traditional Antwerp–London City route.

In April 2018, VLM flew from Antwerp to Aberdeen, Birmingham, London City, Cologne/Bonn, Maribor, Munich, Rostock-Laage and Zurich, among others. Many of these were thin routes that could only be economical with small aircraft – and often not even then.

The final end in 2018

On August 6, 2018, VLM announced it would end all routes from Antwerp except London and Zurich and concentrate on charter flights. At the same time, the Fokker 50 fleet was to be retired. It turned out differently: on August 31, 2018, the shareholders decided to liquidate, and the last flights landed in Antwerp in the first days of September. At the end, around 85 people still worked for the airline. The Slovenian offshoot ended in September, the Brussels one in December 2018.

VLM thus joins a long list of European regional airlines that failed because of thin routes, old aircraft and high cost pressure. The article Big airline collapses in Europe gives an overview of well-known cases.

How to recognize VLM Airlines

On old photos, VLM is easier to identify than you might think – provided you know the phases:

• Own livery from 1996: The agency Lila Design created a look in blue, white and gold with the “VLM” titles.
• CityJet phase 2009–2014: Fokker 50s in CityJet colors, but with a Belgian registration.
• After 2014: VLM markings again, sometimes with the name FlyVLM in the look.

How registrations are structured and what the prefix reveals about origin is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations. How airlines fundamentally change their look is shown in When airlines change their design.

Common mix-ups

• Equating VLM with CityJet – despite the same colors from 2009, VLM remained its own Belgian airline with its own operating certificate.
• Thinking VLM was a Sabena subsidiary – the former Belgian national airline Sabena had nothing to do with VLM; VLM was founded privately and independently.
• Confusing VLM with Virgin Express or Brussels Airlines – Virgin Express flew Boeing 737s from Brussels, and Brussels Airlines is Belgium’s network airline today.
• Confusing the Fokker 50 with the F27 – the F27 has four-bladed propellers, the Fokker 50 six-bladed ones and more, smaller windows.

An overview of the continent’s regional airlines, from the past to today, is offered by the article Regional airlines in Europe. Contemporaries with a similar profile were the British Air UK and the Irish Stobart Air. If you want to see Belgian airlines today, the spotting guide for Brussels is a good starting point.

Conclusion

VLM Airlines was never big, but for over 25 years it was a fixture between Antwerp and London City. With its almost pure Fokker 50 fleet, its upscale service for business travelers and its eventful history spanning independence, Air France-KLM, CityJet and two insolvency phases, it is a prime example of a European regional airline. You can no longer spot VLM live – but on old photos from London City, Antwerp or Friedrichshafen, a close look at the registration and titles is well worth it.