Air Belgium has completed its intended financial support of 10 million euros. This will not come through fresh cash, but through new loans and an adjustment of the existing ones, ‘De Tijd’ writes today on its website. No one at the airline was available for comment.
A month and a half ago, there were reports that the Belgian airline was seeking 10 million euros before the end of the year, because otherwise it would have to stop its activities, it sounded. However, CEO Niky Terzakis then denied that Air Belgium was on the verge of bankruptcy, although he admitted that the financial situation was “tight”. According to the CEO, the airline wanted to raise extra money “for a major investment project”.
According to ‘De Tijd’, 10 million euros have now been raised through new shareholder loans from the Chinese Hongyuan (6.5 million euros) and Sabena Aerospace Engineering (0.5 million). The public shareholders (the Walloon investment companies Sogepa and SRIW and federal investment company FPIM) would also contribute, the newspaper writes, by extending the repayment term of their convertible bond loan from 2023 to 2025.
In November, Air Belgium cut back on winter flights to the Caribbean, according to Terzakis “a reaction to the market”. The CEO promised a new strategy, with new destinations, but more details are not yet known. The majority of Air Belgium’s turnover now comes from cargo flights.
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