Over 600 guests from the Benelux and international air cargo industry, including members of the local and national governments, celebrated the official launch of Cargo B Airlines. The event took place in the Lufthansa Technik hangar at the Brussels Brucargo center, where the first of the airline's B747 freighters was on display.
Rob Kuijpers CEO of Cargo B opened the proceedings with a brief summary of the new airline's position to fulfill the need for capacity at Brussels to serve niche markets on sectors such as Africa and South America. He further expressed his firm belief, shared by Cargo B's highly motivated staff and investors, in the success of the airline's operations.
The State Secretary of the Federal Government, Vincent Quickenborne, spoke of the importance of Brussels Airport to the country's economy, trade and tourism and how pleased he and his colleagues in government were at the introduction of a truly Belgian cargo airline, competing on the world market. The creation of some 2000 jobs both direct and indirect was a very positive factor as well as the increase in trading activity due to the several hundreds of tons of extra cargo passing through Brussels airport each week.
The first scheduled fully laden flight departed on time on Sunday October 14th for Libreville and Johannesburg with a mix of European sourced cargo including car parts and machinery, returning with mixed perishables including flowers. A second flight from Brussels to Addis Abeba, followed on October 16th, which was a dedicated charter on behalf of Ethiopian Airlines. Early indications show that all African flights will be fully booked in the coming weeks with Latin America operations on the horizon for the next phase. The extensive network of GSAs in strategic markets will assure the regular flow of cargo both export and import.
