Last year two airlines have filed for a Belgian Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC): Air Belgium (August 2016) and VLM Airlines (September 2016). To date -almost one year later- both airlines are still waiting for the authorization to conduct commercial activities.
The Belgian Directorate-General for aviation (FOD mobiliteit en vervoer – SPF Mobilité et Transports) told VRT NWS that they do not wish to comment on on-going case files.
An AOC is a vital part to start an airline: without the certificate an airline can’t start negotiating airport slots nor selling tickets to potential customers.
VLM Airlines hopes to receive a Belgian AOC in the coming weeks but already restarted operations under a Slovenian AOC while Air Belgium CEO and founder Niky Terzakis tweeted to luchtzak.be : Patience, patience! It’s a big baby to deliver. Parents are doing fine. Baby shower will be foreseen in due time. ?
If the AOC is not in by the end of this month (August), it will be very hard to start up in October. Both airlines wish to start operating by Winter 2017/2018.
Air Belgium forum discussion: http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=58795&start=360
VLM Airlines forum discussion: http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=60576&hilit=vlm&start=180
Patience, patience! It’s a big baby to deliver. Parents are doing fine. Baby shower will be foreseen in due time. ?
— Niky Terzakis (@NTerzakis) August 24, 2017
