CityBird was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

founded in 1996, and based in Building 117D, Melsbroek Airport in

Zaventem Zaventem () is a Belgian municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant. It is located in the Dijleland area, one of the three large recreational areas which together form the '' Groene Gordel'' ("Green Belt") around the Brussels-Capital Region ...

. The airline filed for bankruptcy in October 2001.

Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium was a Belgian leisure airline owned by the Thomas Cook Group. It operated scheduled flights to destinations throughout Europe and Africa from its base at Brussels Airport. The airline operated from 2002 until 2017. ...

considered buying them out of bankruptcy, but later pulled out. They flew a fleet of twelve aircraft including the Boeing 767-300ER, various

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

models (series -300, -400 and -800 aircraft), the

Airbus A300-600R The Airbus A300 is a Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a lar ...

and the

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing. Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986. Assembly of ...

. Over 50 European cities were served via Brussels. Citybird employed over 600 employees as of 2001 and was listed at NASDAQ Europe a.k.a. Eastdaq under the ticker symbol CBIR (CityBird holding SA) in November 1997. Though they had bought their first MD-11 in December 1996, they did not begin operations until March 1997. Their planes offered a "Royal Eagle" business class, "Premium Flamingo" class (not on

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

flights), and "Colibri" economy class. They used the "point-to-point" approach to air travel rather than the "hub and spoke" wherein all transatlantic flights (from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, Oakland,

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

) went to Brussels Airport (BRU). All aircraft featured the airline's tagline, "The Flying Dream." In July 1999, CityBird began cargo activities using two A300-600 "full freighters."

Destinations in the western hemisphere

According to the airline's timetable covers, the following destinations in the western hemisphere were served by CityBird from its hub in Brussels: North America *Cuba **Varadero *Mexico **Cancun **Mexico City *United States **Las Vegas **Los Angeles **Miami **New York City (served via the Newark Liberty International Airport) **Oakland (San Francisco was served via the

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

) **Orlando South America *Suriname **Paramaribo CityBird also served over 50 destinations in Europe from its Brussels hub.

Fleet

* Two

* One

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

* Four

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

* Three

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...

* Two Boeing 767-300ER * Three

References

External links

CityBird
(Archive)

{{Airlines of Belgium Defunct airlines of Belgium Airlines established in 1996 Airlines disestablished in 2001 Zaventem Belgian companies established in 1996 2001 disestablishments in Belgium