This Saturday morning, the last commercial Air Belgium flight operated by an Airbus A340-300 landed at Charleroi airport, coming from Fort-de-France, Martinique, and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, French Antilles. Future flights will be operated by the airline’s newly acquired A330neo aircraft.
At 09:49 on 26 March, Air Belgium flight KF5961, the last Airbus A340-300 flight from Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre, landed at Brussels South Charleroi Airport with a delay of half an hour. The aircraft registered OO-ABB will in the future be replaced by the new A330-900s. Three other A340-300 aircraft had been retired earlier by Air Belgium.
Air Belgium currently has two A330-900s in its fleet, but intends to lease two more in order to develop its network from both Brussels and Charleroi airports.
The four A340-300s, formerly with Finnair, were the first aircraft in Air Belgium’s fleet. The intention was to fly them to Hong Kong and other destinations in China. If Hong Kong was served for a few months, other destinations failed to materialise and Air Belgium changed its strategy, aiming at Caribbean destinations. The surge in oil prices compelled the airline to look at more fuel-efficient aircraft, hence the choice of the A330neo to replace the gas-guzzling A340.