Air One does not give in to Air Belgium acquisition

In December, the corporate court gave the admission to transfer the cargo activities of Air Belgium to Air One, a consortium consisting of the Dutch Peso Aviation Management and the British Air One Holding International. At the beginning of March, however, that approval was withdrawn because the court ruled that Air One is unable to complete the transfer.

But Air One does not leave it at that and appeals. In the documents, it is first of all that the court was not allowed to make that decision at all. In terms of content, Air One says that it had been given until 5 June to meet a number of conditions and that it is still on schedule. For example, the takeover price of 800,000 euros was paid and an application was also submitted to get a Belgian aviation permit.

There is a financial bottleneck: there is a debt of 3.2 million euros open at the aircraft leasing company Altavair. That threatens to block two cargo aircraft that Air One would use as long as that debt has not been paid. But according to Air One’s lawyers, the debt was built by Air Belgium and with its passenger aircraft, and it is therefore impossible to recover from Air One.

The appeal would be dealt with on 3 April before the Court of Appeal of Brussels. And the corporate court in Nivelles had given other potential buyers until 27 March to make themselves known.