Air Belgium in 2024

[Atlantis]

It’s behind a paywall but it seems an investor will buy 100% of Air Belgium

Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/144767 ... ium-report

Known for a week already.
Only original source, even quoted by De Tijd : https://lpost.be/2024/09/12/air-belgium ... fic-cargo/

Not a week at all, only 4 days......

[Passenger]

It’s behind a paywall but it seems an investor will buy 100% of Air Belgium

Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/144767 ... ium-report

It looks like CMA CGM is going to buy 100% of Air Belgium but only the cargo activity.

Me too, I want to buy 100% of Air Belgium. I'm willing to pay 2 Euro for it, as I also have to sign I will take over all debts. My 2 Euro is probably the double of what the above new guy will pay.

This story looks more and more to a scam. Some administrators/advisors continue to pay themselves a royal fee, paid from the money from Thousands of passengers who had to be legally refunded 7 days after the announcement of cancellation of JNB CPT MRU flights.

[longwings]

It’s behind a paywall but it seems an investor will buy 100% of Air Belgium

Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/144767 ... ium-report

It looks like CMA CGM is going to buy 100% of Air Belgium but only the cargo activity.

5-year business plan. Is that how long the French government will take to negotiate new bilateral traffic rights to allow CMA CGM to move operations to CDG and XCR?

I know, cynical. At least saves the most personnel in the short term.

[LJ]

It’s behind a paywall but it seems an investor will buy 100% of Air Belgium

Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/144767 ... ium-report

It looks like CMA CGM is going to buy 100% of Air Belgium but only the cargo activity.

Me too, I want to buy 100% of Air Belgium. I'm willing to pay 2 Euro for it, as I also have to sign I will take over all debts. My 2 Euro is probably the double of what the above new guy will pay.

This story looks more and more to a scam. Some administrators/advisors continue to pay themselves a royal fee, paid from the money from Thousands of passengers who had to be legally refunded 7 days after the announcement of cancellation of JNB CPT MRU flights.

It all depends on what they actually buy and how it's structured. The old entity has the claims from those seeking a refund. I doubt they want to take over those liabilities. The same applies to the outstanding order. Thus the most logical thing is to separate the companies, for which CMA CGM will pay a few million, take over the liabilities of the business you actually need and then you're done. AFAIK the cargo business wasn't/isn't legally separated (it is/was one legal entity). Therefore, if CMA CGM would to take over 100% of Air Belgium, they would also take over the claims. However, the details of a takeover/buy out are usually not disclosed and/or too complicated for any journalist to comprehend. Therefore a simple headline "New investor offers to buy 100% of Air Belgium" is created.

BTW the only ones making money out of the Air Belgium pockets are the administrators, the persons they hire and remaining employees. CMA CGM has to pay for its own consultants.

[jan_olieslagers]

Perhaps the shipping company CMA/CGM wants to venture into air cargo since their big competitor MSC did the same with their subsidiary MSC Air Cargo?

[Lux_avi]

Perhaps the shipping company CMA/CGM wants to venture into air cargo since their big competitor MSC did the same with their subsidiary MSC Air Cargo?

Lol, CMA CGM already has its own AOC's. One based in France, a 2nd one in the US.

[jan_olieslagers]

Hm, I did not look in depth. Thanks for correction! I did find the French AOC, or what looks like it, on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMA_CGM_Air_Cargo But what or which is the US'an one?

And, nearer to the original subject: what could be the motivation for CMA/CGM to acquire what might be considered a living corpse?

[Passenger]

On 4th Sept 2024, Air Belgium ridiculized the trade court (Tribunal de l'entreprise du Brabant wallon / Ondernemingsrechtbank Waals-Brabant) and all their creditors by presenting a business rescue plan with a fake investor.

There is no way that the trade court and/or some of the creditors will accept their nonsense again. So it will be "show me the money" on Wednesday: the 'new investor' will have to present an original letter from his bank with an amount, well enough to partially repay the creditors and to continue operations.

[longwings]

And, nearer to the original subject: what could be the motivation for CMA/CGM to acquire what might be considered a living corpse?

Aircraft, personnel, traffic rights for less than it would cost them to do in-house and/or far faster than they would be able to.

[JOVAN2]

And, nearer to the original subject: what could be the motivation for CMA/CGM to acquire what might be considered a living corpse?

Aircraft, personnel, traffic rights for less than it would cost them to do in-house and/or far faster than they would be able to.

Like their competitors MSC, Maersk, Eva... Have their own cargo airline. Now they have 4 777F and can double capacity quickly by eventual turnover.

[JOVAN2]

And, nearer to the original subject: what could be the motivation for CMA/CGM to acquire what might be considered a living corpse?

Aircraft, personnel, traffic rights for less than it would cost them to do in-house and/or far faster than they would be able to.

Like their competitors MSC, Maersk, Eva... Have their own cargo airline. Now they have 4 777F and can double capacity quickly by eventual turnover.

Takeover that should be.

[Darjeeling]

Frm Le Soir, yesterday.

Nouvelle procédure pour éviter la faillite.
Un nouveau délai de quatre mois devrait être accordé à la compagnie pour trouver un repreneur à ses activités les plus rentables et
aux 370 emplois en péril. 11.000 passagers lésés n’ont également toujours pas été remboursés.

C’est ce jeudi que le tribunal de l’en­treprise de Nivelles a pris sa déci­ sion sur l’avenir de la compagnie aé­rienne Air Belgium, après une année entière sous procédure de réorganisa­tion judiciaire.
Depuis un an, la compagnie a large­ment réorganisé son activité pour ne conserver que des opérations rentables : le transport de marchandises et le lea­ sing de l’avion, l’équipage et la mainte­ nance (ACMI) à d’autres compagnies. La compagnie ne perd plus d’argent de­ puis lors, comme elle le faisait lors­ qu’elle assurait des lignes régulières de transport de passagers.
Sauf qu’il reste un sérieux passif à ré­sorber: une dette d’une cinquantaine de millions d’euros, dont une vingtaine urgemment. Ce qu’Air Belgium n’est pas en état de rembourser, sachant que les actionnaires privés et publics (la Région wallonne à travers Wallonie Entre­ prendre et le fédéral, à travers la SFPI) ne veulent plus rajouter du capital.
Réorganisation judiciaire
La solution adoptée par le tribunal est donc de mettre fin à la procédure de ré­ organisation judiciaire pour entamer, durant quatre mois, une autre straté­gie: une réorganisation judiciaire par transfert d’actif. En clair, un repreneur créerait une nouvelle société, qui re­ prendrait, selon un rachat partiel, les actifs qui l’intéressent (les activités pro­ fitables, mais aussi, par exemple, l’AOC et autres agréations dont dispose la compagnie) et laisserait les autres, ainsi que les dettes, dans la société initiale qui tomberait en faillite.
Le principal avantage de cette solu­ tion, c’est de maintenir l’emploi (370 travailleurs) et l’activité de l’entreprise. Le désavantage, c’est la faillite pour les créanciers (une partie des prêts ban­ caires sont couverts par une garantie de la Région), comprenant certains agents de voyages, des équipementiers ou en­ core des fournisseurs d’avions.
Priorité aux consommateurs
Une demande particulière a été faite pour que l’argent de la reprise puisse al­ ler en priorité aux consommateurs qui attendent toujours le remboursement de leurs vols, payés avant qu’Air Bel­ gium supprime son activité passager (11.000 passagers devant se rendre à l’île Maurice, principalement). Le mon­ tant total de cette dette tournerait au­ tour des trois millions d’euros. A l’heure actuelle, on parle de deux candidats sé­rieux au rachat des activités profitables d’Air Belgium. La compagnie dispose désormais de quatre mois pour en trou­ver d’autres, ou concrétiser.
Au terme de cette nouvelle réorgani­sation, les plus grosses pertes concerne­ raient les actionnaires privés chinois (31 millions d’euros), mais aussi les inves­tisseurs publics. Depuis le début, le sec­teur public a investi un total de 28 mil­ lions dans l’entreprise, qui comptait plus de 400 emplois à certains mo­ments. Au fédéral, le SFPI a investi 6,3 millions d’euros en capital et 0,9 mil­lion en prêt, tandis qu’au niveau régio­nal, Wallonie Entreprendre a investi 15,7 millions d’euros en capital, 1,8 mil­ lion en prêt et 3,5 millions en garantie.