The route between Antwerp Airport and Zurich Kloten was officially inaugurated this Monday, 22 January 2018. The Mayor of Antwerp cut the ribbon before the departure of the Fokker 50 registered OO-VLI under a water salute.
Zurich is the second scheduled destination of the new VLM Airlines after London City (which was launched on 30 October 2017). Next month, starting on 12 February, VLM Airlines will also fly to Birmingham, Munich and Maribor in Slovenia.
The Antwerp-Zurich route is a missing link in the European network. Zurich is one of the world’s most important financial centres and plays a key role in the European economy, just like Antwerp. VLM will link the two cities twice a day (morning and evening), Monday through Friday, a route that will appeal to tourists as well as to businesspeople.
During the press conference preceding the inauguration, Marcel Buelens, CEO of Antwerp Airport, explained that Antwerp is now connected to 19 destinations through 3 airlines: TUI Airlines Belgium flies to Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Murcia, Nador, and to Florence (new), plus seasonally to Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Split (summer) and Innsbruck (winter). VLM Airlines, as mentioned above, flies or will fly to Birmingham, Zurich, Munich, Maribor (all new) and to London City. Finally, Flybe will link Antwerp with Southend, where connecting flights are available to Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow.
Carl Runge, COO VLM Airlines, showed the current fleet (6 Fokker 50 aircraft with 50 seats and two Airbus A320 aircraft with 180 seats) and the development of the scheduled network from one destination last year to five destinations in February 2018.
Some pictures of the event (© André Orban)
