VLM : still growing

beaucaire · Post by **beaucaire** » 14 Mar 2007, 21:56

Is there any truth in the rumour that BA wants to buy VLM...??

burner737 · Post by **burner737** » 14 Mar 2007, 23:37

beaucaire wrote:Is there any truth in the rumour that BA wants to buy VLM...??

Maybe... But BA isn't half the airline what VLM is today so I don't think this is gonna happen. And another thing VLM is known all over the world unlike BA. VLM has a (very good) reputation very good unlike BA...

Regards Tim

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » 14 Mar 2007, 23:49

beaucaire wrote:Is there any truth in the rumour that BA wants to buy VLM...??

Brussels Airlines or British Airways?

To all: please write Brussels Airlines in full or use the airline code "SN".

beaucaire · Post by **beaucaire** » 15 Mar 2007, 07:35

With BA I mean British Airways...

website-info · Post by **website-info** » 15 Mar 2007, 07:51

Bruspotter wrote:The same story for the A318 , the A318 is already a real 'airliner' and the capacity is also a bit high I think and certainly if you see this related to take off and landing weight. I don't see the A318 operating from let's say LIV , ANR , ...

Best regards: Yannick

could be interesting, since when does VLM serve Livengood, USA ....... guess you meant LPL / Liverpool !

Post by **sn26567** » 15 Mar 2007, 13:15

beaucaire wrote:Is there any truth in the rumour that BA wants to buy VLM...??

See article in Luchtzak News: https://www.aviation24.be/article13833.html

beaucaire · Post by **beaucaire** » 15 Mar 2007, 13:54

"Industry sources told the newspaper that it is possible the carrier will launch a bid for Dutch airline VLM in order to extend its operations at London City Airport."
I thought VLM was Belgian ???

Post by **sn26567** » 15 Mar 2007, 14:37

beaucaire wrote:I thought VLM was Belgian ???

VLM was founded in Belgium by Belgians, but has been taken over by a Dutchman. It still has a Belgian AOC and carries Belgian registrations.

blackbox · Post by **blackbox** » 16 Mar 2007, 11:30

sn26567 wrote:
beaucaire wrote:I thought VLM was Belgian ???
VLM was founded in Belgium by Belgians, but has been taken over by a Dutchman. It still has a Belgian AOC and carries Belgian registrations.

So it's Belgian. (yes even Flemish) It's not because a Dutchman is CEO that the company is Dutch.

Otherwise ING would also be Belgian because ING has a Belgian CEO.

Established02 · Post by **Established02** » 16 Mar 2007, 19:12

blackbox wrote:
sn26567 wrote:
beaucaire wrote:I thought VLM was Belgian ???
VLM was founded in Belgium by Belgians, but has been taken over by a Dutchman. It still has a Belgian AOC and carries Belgian registrations.
So it's Belgian. (yes even Flemish) It's not because a Dutchman is CEO that the company is Dutch.

Otherwise ING would also be Belgian because ING has a Belgian CEO.

The CEO of VLM is Belgian, not Dutch.

The ''Dutchman'' is Mr. Jaap Jacobsen. He is the full and sole owner of VLM Airlines. He is not the CEO and therefore he is not involved with daily management, but rather with financial and strategic issues only.

The current CEO is the Belgian Johan Vanneste (ex DAT, ex Air Belgium...)

Since the acquisition of Denim Air by Mr. Jacobsen, more and more aircraft -painted in VLM colours but operated by Denim Air- carry a Dutch registration.

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 16 Mar 2007, 19:51

Mr Jacobson indeed is the sole owner, although some details are legally quite important.

VLM was founded in 1992, as Vlaamse Luchttransportmaatschappij nv. Address at that time: Wommelgem, a town very close to ANR (address: c/o FVG).

VLM moved to Antwerp Airport in 1994. As per today, the company is based ("exploitatiezetel") and registered ("maatschappelijke zetel") at ANR: Luchthavenlei bus 50, 2100 Deurne-Antwerp. So the company is not Dutch: it's Belgian. Or Flemish. With Dutch owners.

VLM (official name "VLM Airlines") is owned by:

- NV Frevag (a Belgian company, in VLM's board represented by mr J.R. Rosen Jacobson)
- Panta Holdings BV (a Dutch company, in VLM's board represented by mr J.R. Rosen Jacobson)
- mr J.R. Rosen Jacbson (a Dutch citizen)

Piperalfa · Post by **Piperalfa** » 16 Mar 2007, 21:36

In Air Transport World

VLM Airlines is not talking with British Airways about a possible sale of the regional carrier that is currently the largest operator at London City, owner Jaap Rosen Jacobson told ATWOnline, putting to rest speculation that arose following BA's launch of CityFlyer (ATWOnline, March 15). VLM accounts for about one-third of all aircraft movements at LCY. "There has been no negotiation with BA on this subject," Jacobson said. "I'm not saying a sale of VLM might not happen. One never knows. But there has been no contact with BA regarding VLM." Jacobson, who controls Panta Holdings, the Dutch holding comprising ACMI specialist Denim Air and Antwerp-based VLM, did not want to confirm he held negotiations with BA regarding BA Connect. Industry sources told this website that BA had talks with Panta when it was seeking to offload its loss-making regional business last year.

koninckske · Post by **koninckske** » 18 Mar 2007, 13:54

It would be very bad news if BA takes over VLM, because the only reason for a take over are the slots at London City. BA isn’t interested in the operations of VLM. BA has no choice because Scot Airways chose for the Cityjet/Air France story.

Look at the past: BA has never been successful in their regional operations. They took over control of Brymon Airways, Manx Airways, Deutsche BA… Look at what they achieved. They reduced operations, cancelled routes and weren’t interested in the local passengers. This all became BA Citiexpress and BA Connect afterwards. Now they had to sell it to Flybe.

Where is the logic: you sell your regional operations and some months later you buy a regional operator. Why? Because VLM is a very successful operator and they made money in the last 9 years. You would like to build on their great expertise. This is not what BA plans! They would buy VLM, reduce the frequencies, degrade the service and use the slots at LCY for new routes. They scare the business passengers away.

What had the new BA Citiexpress on offer? Uncomfortable planes with too much seats, bad service, too few frequencies for business pax, … BA has been very unreliable at LCY in the past: routes to Glasgow, Paris, Geneva were all dropped.

There is only one sensible solution for BA: sell the LCY operations to VLM. VLM could use the RJ 100 of BA to increase capacity on their existing routes and use some free slots to add new destinations. They would have to reconfigure the Avros with approx 100 seats in a 2+3 layout. They have the expertise to operate a business service between regional airports. BA has proven they aren’t capable.

Other option is a close cooperation between BA and VLM. This would mean more possible connecting pax at LCY, for example Antwerp to Glasgow via LCY. This makes sense. I did it in the past: flown with VLM from Antwerp to LCY and with BA from LCY to Edinburgh.

BA will not start new routes to the Benelux. Why? There simply is no space for: Amsterdam 2 operators, Rotterdam no slots left, Brussels only 5000 pax every month, Luxemburg 2 operators, leaves only Antwerp and that is not a BA possibility.

Let VLM not be the victim of their own success. They made LCY a very successful airport, not BA. Look at the future of VLM: they want to carry 900.000 this year. They will grow their fleet to 23 aircraft (16 F50 of VLM, 5 F50 of Denim and 2 jets) before the end of 2007.
They still plan to open some more routes this year. This will all be new regional routes, possibly not to the UK. Do you want all this to go to the bin? BA would not continue such operations.

burner737 · Post by **burner737** » 18 Mar 2007, 22:21

respect to Koninckske !!!
+ if BA would take over VLM ... They would drop Antwerp. <--
"BA is ni goe bezig" and not only in the regional part.

Regards Tim

spotter1102 · Post by **spotter1102** » 19 Mar 2007, 13:50

VLM Airlines will put a British Aerospace BAe 146-300 on the Rotterdam-London City route in april 2007.

Piperalfa · Post by **Piperalfa** » 12 Apr 2007, 20:33

Hier is hij

http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/viewpho ... picid=3688

stratofreighter · Post by **stratofreighter** » 12 Apr 2007, 20:34

spotter1102 wrote:VLM Airlines will put a British Aerospace BAe 146-300 on the Rotterdam-London City route in april 2007.

BAe-146 G-BPNT of Flightline in the new VLM-livery (also see
http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/viewpho ... picid=3688 !) will land this Friday afternoon at Rotterdam Airport.

As things stand now she will be present at Rotterdam during the whole weekend, also see
http://www.scramble.nl/forum/viewtopic. ... c&start=15
and otherwise
http://tinyurl.com/2fyful .

You will even be able to see her from "airside" if you take part in a FREE platform tour during the Dutch Spotters Convention this Saturday.
See
rotterdam-airport-free-platform-tours-s ... 21094.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/29f9op for more details!
And yes, during this convention both the entrance and parking on P1 and P3 will be free as well...

Boeing767copilot · Post by **Boeing767copilot** » 13 Apr 2007, 07:25

Great news:

The BAE-146 from VLM Airlines wil be on Brussels Airport next tuesday 24/4 around 10.30 am.
And in the afternoon at 4 pm at Antwerp Airport.

Post by **sn26567** » 13 Apr 2007, 09:13

stratofreighter wrote:BAe-146 G-BPNT of Flightline in the new VLM-livery ...

Will it get a Belgian registration? If so, which one?

JAFflyer · Post by **JAFflyer** » 13 Apr 2007, 10:09

Will remain Golf registered as Flightline operates the flights. Maybe after the trial period, it could become OO or PH.