Sobelair bankrupt

[A/P Disc]

Sobelair in Belgium has just been declared bankrupt.

450 people lost their jobs and passengers are stranded
out of Brussels. Alternative aircraft are being arranged by
Jetair the touroperator who booked the flights with them.

Not good news anf I wish the employees best of luck.

Reason for collapse was according to the curator extreme
bad management after Sobelair went on it's own after
the Sabena drama.

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Shame, I feel sorry for my Belgian friends. Fancy being made redundant before you even got a chance to strike...?

:zzz:

[Pointer]

I haven't seen any advert yet, but it can never be long, Easyjet and Ryanair flocking to BRU to pick-up some rated guy's!

I have sympathy for the Sobelair pilots but Also for the one's hanging on the bottom of the Pilot-food-chain.

Oh when is the salvation near?
:\

[doubleu-anker]

Good one Wing Co. Like that one.:O

[A/P Disc]

An update of the Sobelair mess at the moment:

All flights have been taken over today by other airlines.
This has been arranged by Jetair and Thomas Cook
who are the one's who booked the flights in the first
place with Sobelair. All Sobelair planes are grounded.

AOC has not yet been suspended by the Belgian Government
because the curator wants to have a try to find a buyer
for what is left but doesn't want to wait any longer
with this than Thursday.Thus staff have not yet been fired
but the company has been declared bankrupt by the Belgian
courts.

Personell is prepairing a lawsuit against the CEO with
a charge of gross managerial misconduct.

Staff are very emotionall as some of them also were
in the Sabena drama.

Best of luck to them in the future.

Rgds

[Flightstar JP]

This is truely terrible news about SOBELAIR going bankrupt.

Did they already park their planes or are they operating in BK status?

They are well known and have been around for quite a while and I though they ran a tight and lean ship over there. Maybe without the Sabena technical support it raised their costs.

Is Mssr. Luke Melearts stil the M/D of the company?

and does anybody know if they are still flying the 5x to 6x per week B767-300 sub-charters for DCA from Curacao to Amsterdam?

Thanks.... JP :{

[cortilla]

Can't say i was surprised to hear that one. It's been on the books for several months now. Bad news for us wannabes in europe who are still trying to get a job, and bad news for the people who just lost theirs.

[A/P Disc]

CEO is a Mr. Vastapane who isn't that popular at the moment
if I understand rightly.

Airplanes are grounded until at least Friday.

DCA flight yesterday out of Amsterdam was being flown
by Air Holland. Sobelair fight was cancelled.

Azzurra Air out of Bergamo is making an offer for
what is left of the company but they seem to be
in financial trouble themselfs so it is wait and see
at the moment. Curator is making up his mind if
it is a geniune offer.

Sabena Technics are now also in deep trouble.
They had big problems beforehand but if they lose
Sobelair it might tip them over also.

Sad news.

Source: Belgian TV.

[Xenia]

I wonder where did you get from that Azzurra Air is making an offer out of Bergamo ....
There's nothing left at all in Bergamo of Azzura Air, the headquarter in BGY is gone! ... and very sad indeed, it seems to be that Azzurra will be the next one to go due to serious financial troubles and to the fact Air Malta took all their aircrafts.

[Jetset320]

Azzurra still have their administrative offices in Bergamo, at least till last week they did. Some 200 staff there I am told. They also have offices in Gallarate near MXP.

The aircraft are held to avoid them getting impounded by other creditors. As you say, they are in enough trouble on their own, let alone rescue another bankcrupt company.

Since the new magiority owners (mob connections they say) have moved in at Azzurra last year (Air Malta only have 49%), they have gone for 'rescuing' Air Littoral, Olympic and now Sobelair, yet they do not have one aircraft of their own flying at the moment....... so much for their rescue capabilities!

[FEBA]

Can anybody recall a successful Belgian airline?

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Not with a straight face....

[Eurekadelta]

I think I can name a few:

1) VLM Airlines - No sorry, run by a Dutchman-
2) Thomas Cook Airlines - No, run by a German head office.
3) Virgin Express - Nope again - run (sort of) by Dicky Branson.

4) .... eh....

Nope sorry. ;) :ok: :D

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All joking aside. All the best of luck to the great guys at Sobelair - I wish you all the very best of luck getting through this. Hope you all land on your feet!

[Daysleeper]

Can anybody recall a successful Belgian airline?

EAT (though owned by the germans)

TNT (though owned by the dutch)

[Avman]

How about Delta Air Transport (DAT) , now SN Brussels Airlines of course. They still use DAT as their ICAO designator. Oh, and they've been around for 35 years at least!

[NewGenFlyer]

:hmm: 35 years ??!!... but they were managed and filled by Sabena... and now managed by a dutch :rolleyes:

[FEBA]

EAT
You're having a laugh :zzz:

[ATC Watcher]

But what is a successful airline in Europe today ?

Besides a handful that do show a profit at the end of the year , how many are just living on borrowed money ?

Someone mentioned Thomas Cook (Belgium ops) as a succesful one, anyone seen the salaries there ?

[Clarence Oveur]

Eurekadelta,

So I guess British Airways are Australian then.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[TightSlot]

Wasn't there a recent rumour about TUI sniffing around Sobelair's tail area?

[James T. Kirk]

DAT / SN Brussels Airlines, a successful airline? Stretching it a bit.

It only remains in business today thanks to a loan from the Belgian government. The government has confirmed that the loan must be repaid in 2006. The company has no way of making enough money by then, so unless the government makes a U-turn on this decision SNBA finishes in 2006.

Interestingly they did post a profit last year but only by selling three of their aircraft to Virgin Express’ code share partner, Malmo Aviation.

Kirk out...

[springbok449]

Profitable airline?? Well we can leave DAT aka SN Brussels out of the equation then...
Read in Belgian press Le Soir that Air Azzura are to make a bid for Sobelair but it has to be done by the end of the week...There did not seem to be much hope in the Belgian camp.
Sobelair was a great airline to work for in the past with many good people shame to see it go.

[CargoOne]

FEBA

Birdy Airlines seems to be doing fine, although they just an ACMI provider to SN Brussel. However, African destinations are most (and probably only) profitable at SN network ;)

[Flopster]

Please let us know why you find EAT laughable. They're expanding the network, have extensive growth plans, are hiring people and they are profitable. I do, however, appreciate that the concept of making money and growing is utterly alien to some members of Royal Air Farce. The real world is a tad different matey ......

Is it, in your opinion, only pax carrying airlines that count? Or those with guns and whatnots?

[LGW Vulture]

Why has this turned into a slaying of Belgian entities?

Sobelair and its collapse should be the theme here surely? Plenty of space in Jet Blast for your petty gripes! :*

[Danny]

I refer the protaganists to the following article: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article09-208/

Stick to topic?... If only :hmm:

[Avman]

Where did I claim that SN Brussels were profitable? My point is that if an airline is around for 35 years or more I guess it must be "successful".