VLM Airlines Brussels has filed for Bankruptcy on Tuesday.
Despite reporting a good summer performance in 2018, the Belgian airline was not able to secure enough funds for the winter season.
VLM Airlines Brussels employed around 80 people and was flying a single Airbus A321. Earlier this year, it was also operating two former Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium A320s, registered as OO-TCX and OO-TCT. One was retired in May, and the latter one in October 2018.
The ‘original’ VLM Airlines (Vlaamse Luchttransport Maatschappij) started operations in 1993 at Antwerp Airport in Belgium’s Flemish region. After it suspended operations in June 2016, two new airlines wearing the name VLM were founded. The Dutch investment company SHS Aviation acquired two Airbus A320s from former Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and restarted VLM’s operations in November 2017. SF Aviation Management B.V. then took over the two Airbus aircraft and founded VLM Airlines Brussels, based in the Belgian capital. On 31 August 2018, SHS’s Antwerp-based airline, now called VLM airlines Regional, suspended operations, leaving VLM Airlines Brussels as the third and last flying VLM brand until now.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
