CODE CIN FLEET 3 x A320
FOUNDATION 1995    
HOME Brussels - OO  Hot news (see below) ! Financial crash landing 
EMPLOYEES 110    

This a Belgian Airline founded in 1995 and flying Charter flights from Brussels to the usual Mediterranean routes including mainland Spain, the Greek islands, Turkey, the Balearic islands, Egypt and the Canary islands.

It is still very small with only three planes, all A320 (in leasing). They hired a A321 from British Midlands for the summer period with a last flight on October 3th '99 (See below). They had some Boeing B737s an 727s at the beginning. They now proudly announce that they are the first Belgian airline to operate exclusively Airbus A320 aircrafts. By the way, this is only a clue that A320s, which have long been absent from charter flights are gaining notoriety in this field. Also Air Belgium now use two A320 (in addition to a 737-400). In other countries, the amount of A320 used for charter traffic has been rapidly increasing the last year  : think of Spanish Iberworld, Danish Premiair and big brother Airtours, Swiss Edelweiss among others.

They operate mainly from Brussels National but also from some other Belgian regional airports like Ostend and Liege (Bierset).  They are competitors of Sobelair and the charter department of Virgin Express. They benefit the support of the Lufthansa technical and maintenance services.

After difficult beginnings, the company seemed to have reached a cruising speed, but they suddenly stopped operating round mid december '99. Short afterwards, they introduced a judiciary procedure to benefit some patience from the creditors. Although the personnel was said to keep full of confidence in the company, it seems that the rise of fuel prices and of the dollar (two or maybe all three aircraft are leased from the american ILFC leasing company) and finally the breakdown of an engine in Malaga (with the plane being grounded for a week) were too much for the remaining forces of this young airline. The court finally had to consider that there was not enough money offered from anyone else to take over the company and declared it bankrupt.

A pity for this recent airline which definitely tried to offer a fresh mind and a good service on board.
 
  OO-COF, Constellation Airbus A320-232 (1995), just before embarking passengers to Gran Canaria, seen at Liege Airport (Bierset) in Belgium on Nov. 7th  '99. The flight CIN 7300 should have departed from Brussels, but due to a strike of the baggage handler AviaPartner, the aircraft had to be rerouted to Bierset to pick up passengers. After the bankruptcy of the company, it became (05/2000) EI-CUM, flying for Volare Airlines in Italy (leasing ILFC).
  OO-COH, Constellation Airbus A320-232 (1995), parked at Liege (Bierset) on Nov. 7th '99. Waiting to pick passengers to Palma de Mallorca. Both aircrafts are leased from Airbus Industries at that time. Since then, the aircraft has been taken over by America West and flies under registration N605AW.
OO-COL, Airbus A320-231 (the interior is slightly different) - 1992 - taxiing alongside runway 25R at Brussels just after landing. I flew in this one, back from Teneriffe. It went back to Airbus and then to Shorouk Air, an Egyptian company under reg SU-RAD.
 
 
G-MIDA, Constellation Airbus A321-231 (1998), in full British Midlands colors with Constellation titles, leased during the summer '99. Last flight for Constellation on Oct. 3rd '99. Seen here at Brussels in final for runway 25L.
Constellation A320 approaching runway 25L on Sept. 6th '99 at Brussels.

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