An interested investor has made an offer to take over some or all of the activities of Air Belgium, the airline announced on Wednesday. The bid will now be analysed and the court will make its ruling on 5 December.
Candidates had until last Friday to come forward.
The deadline for interested investors to submit takeover bids had been extended several times in recent weeks since the end, in mid-September, of the judicial reorganisation procedure (PRJ) in which the company found itself.
At the same time, the company had asked to launch a procedure for the transfer of its activities to interested investors, a procedure which has a maximum duration of four months.
Bernard Vanham, the practitioner appointed by the Nivelles company court to manage the liquidation of Air Belgium, will now analyse the offer received, obtain the necessary clarifications and prepare his report, according to the airline.
Vanham will submit this document to the court, which will announce its decision on 5 December.
According to several media reports, none of the offers on the table in recent weeks provides for a takeover of all the carrier's activities - passenger and freight transport. There could therefore be an impact on employment.
However, Air Belgium has never officially commented on this issue since the beginning of the procedure.
In September 2023, the airline announced the end of its own passenger flights - to South Africa and Mauritius - which were "chronically unprofitable." This left around 11,000 passengers out in the cold, hoping to be reimbursed for the purchase of their tickets.
Since then, the carrier, which employs between 400 and 500 people, has continued to develop its ACMI activities, i.e. chartering aircraft for other airlines, whether freight or passenger transport.
It also offered charter flights for specific customers, either to carry passengers or cargo. However, only the cargo business seems to be continuing.
