BELGIUM, 1 AUGUST | Belgian airline, Air Belgium recently suffered a record full year loss of 49 Million USD, raising up striking concerns about its future. The airline currently operates passenger services to holiday destinations, coupled with freight services. Following the losses, the airline's auditor pointed out that cumulative losses reached more than a whopping 100 million USD- signalling that the airline is not far from declaring bankruptcy.

A combination of factors has led to this tricky situation for the Belgian flag carrier. To begin, a 6-month delay in the delivery of the carrier's new A330 aircraft- comprising the -200 and the -900neo, and delays in the introduction of 2 Boeing 747-8 Freighter aircraft led to losses for the airline as they were not at full strength for the peak summer period.

In addition, fierce competition from French carriers meant that the airline had to cut many of their Carribean routes, reducing their network, and their revenue overall. In order to combat this, the airline has entered discussions with new investors for a new capital hike, in order to strengthen equity. These talks apparently resulted in a binding offer by a potential investor on 30 June. The airline states they are confident that they will return to profitability by 3rd quarter 2023- which seems near impossible.

According to sources, Air Belgium's board acknowledges the uncertainty over business continuity but says its actions to cut the least profitable routes, review its passenger network, continue its cargo charter services and search for investors support treatment of the company as a going concern, particularly because it forecasts that July and August should be profitable months.

Sources: FlightGlobal, Wikipedia

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