The birth of the original VLM 1993 was in a very different landscape. The long established niche LON-ANR link with its attendant regular patronage was being messed about, both by Sabena from LHR and by a succession of small airlines from LGW. Freddy Van Gaever started VLM (with heavy Flemish political reasoning) on a shoestring using cheap second hand F50s and cleverly got slots into LCY who were desperate at that time to attract business. VLM successfully concentrated on this and the equally niche LON-RTM for years during the whirlwind changes to aviation in Europe. The later affiliations, mergers, demergers and network expansions and contractions leading to ultimate bankruptcy are well documented. Antwerp Airport itself no longer relies on the London traffic, it has also moved on. St Pancras to Berchem or Antwerpen Centraal is now no more than a regional rail journey. We’ll see how StobartBe get on with their second attempt on the route from SEN.
Starting a handful of disparate and random routes from Antwerp will have been relatively cheap with the assets on hand from deadVLM. But there are now no other plans for this standalone Antwerp based enterprise and they need to be making money pretty fast on their erratic routes on noisy, ancient and increasingly obsolete F50s. My sources tell me that, so far, the fleet is transporting a lot of air around.
Last edited by Steviec9; 18th Feb 2018 at 22:42.