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ASL Airlines Belgium


Taken at Frankfurt in February 2018, the color scheme is very modest on this Austrian registered airframe "OE-IFD".  (Photo: collection Skystef)

 

Base: Liège
IATA: 3V
ICAO: TAY
Website: ASL Airlines
Fleet:

31x B737F (OE-IAB, OE-IAE, OE-IAJ, OE-IAK, OE-IAM, OE-IAY, OE-IAZ, OE-IBI, OE-IBL, OE-IBO, OE-IBW, OE-IMC, OE-IMD, OE-IWA, OE-IWB, OE-IWD, OE-IWE, OE-IWF, OE-IXA, OE-IXB, OE-IXC, OE-IXE, OE-IXF, OE-IXH, OE-IXJ, OE-IXM, OE-IXN, OE-IXO, OE-LVC, OO-TNN, OO-TNP) + 31x history (OE-IAC, OE-IAD, OE-IAF, OE-IAG, OE-IAP, OE-IAQ, OE-IAR, OE-IAS, OE-IAT, OE-IAU, OE-IAX, OE-IBZ, OE-IEC, OE-IWP, OE-IXD, OE-LVD, OE-LVE, OO-TNA, OO-TNB, OO-TNC, OO-TND, OO-TNE, OO-TNF, OO-TNG, OO-TNH, OO-TNI, OO-TNJ, OO-TNK, OO-TNL, OO-TNO, OO-TNQ),

5x B747-400F (OE-IFB, OE-IFD, OE-IFK, OE-IFM, OE-ILC) + 6x history (OO-THA, OO-THB, OO-THC, OO-THD of which 2x were leased from Atlas Air in 2002-2003 OO-TJA, N491MC),

4x B757-200F = all history (OE-LFB, OE-LFE, OO-TFA, OO-TFC),

3x B777-200F = all history (OO-TSA, OO-TSB, OO-TSC),

14x BAe146QT/QC = all history (OO-TAA, OO-TAD, OO-TAE, OO-TAF, OO-TAH, OO-TAJ, OO-TAK, OO-TAQ, OO-TAR, OO-TAS, OO-TAU, OO-TAW, OO-TAY, OO-TAZ),

4x A300F = all history (OO-TZA, OO-TZB, OO-TZC, OO-TZD)
History: before changing its name on Januay 24 2017 to "ASL Airlines Belgium", it was formed in June 1999 as TNT Airways, wholly owned by the TNT Post Group, to provide world-wide parcel services from its Liège hub. This Belgian company was to take over the TNT parcel network provided by contracted carriers like Mistral Air (Italy), Pan Air (Spain), Airfoyle & Hunting Air Cargo (U.K.), Eurowings (Germany) and Sterling (Denmark). From these six carriers, two remained active for the TNT group: Pan Air with 6 BAe146QC + 2 A300 and Mistral Air with 2 BAe146, all in full TNT colors. Other foreign carriers which operated for the TNT group included: Amerer Air of Austria (Electra), Axis Airways of France (B737QC), Cairo Aviation of Egypt (Tu204), Atlantic Airlines of the U.K. (Tu204), Channel Express (renamed Jet2) of the U.K. (A300) and Icelandair (B757). Own services with a Belgian registered BAe146QC started on February 12 2000 with a flight to Vienna. Between October 2002 and April 2003 a B747-400 was temporary leased from Atlas Air to provide a link to Hong Kong on behalf of Emirates Airlines. Beside these parcel operations, the fleet was also used for cargo (charter) flights for third parties like Royal Air Maroc. On April 3 2004 pax charters for tour operator Club Med did start from Brussels to Mediterranean resorts. Initially a leased B737-300 of Islandsflug (now Air Atlanta Icelandic) was used but since February 2005 these flights were carried out with their own B737-300QC equipment. From summer 2006 on these pax charters included operations from Liège. On December 21 2006 their first B747-400F was delivered, followed by a second one on May 22 2007. Initially meant for operations to Shanghai, this turned out to be rather unsuccessful and so they were leased to Emirates Cargo. This cooperation led to the fact that on July 31 2007 their third Jumbo was delivered in full Emirates Cargo colors, repeated on their fourth on February 12 2008, both were wet leased for a ten year period. On December 24 2009, the final commercial flight with an Airbus A300 was conducted. On July 23 2011, the first (of three) factory fresh B777 freighters was delivered at Liège, but these remained operational fir only six years. Together with Pan Air, the company was sold by parent company TNT Express to ASL Aviation which on its turn is a parent company of Air Contractors and Europe Airpost, which materialised on May 24 2016 adopting its present name on Januay 24 2017. Operating under the umbrella of Fedex, this American company decided in January 2021 to cut at least a half of its operations at Liege in favor of Paris (CDG) where its main hub is active, resulting in a downgrade of Liege to a regional hub.

 

Belgian Airlines