Victor Hasson (1957 – January 10, 2005), also known as Vico was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

(born in Burundi) businessman who started multiple companies.

Career

Victor Hasson, also known as "Vico", graduated from the Université libre de Bruxelles with a degree in medicine. After graduating, Victor quickly realized that Medicine was not for him and decided to join his family's business.

CityHotel

Created by his uncles and managed by Victor and his brother Albert, the Hasson's most successful business was the City Hotel group. The company was later sold to the

KBC Group KBC Group is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredietbank ...

European Belgian Airline (EBA)

Hasson started the European Belgian Airline, a low-cost company built off of the old market share from

Trans European Airways Trans European Airways, usually referred to by its initials TEA, was a Belgian airline that operated from 1971 to 1991. It had its head office in Building 117 on the grounds of Melsbroek Airport in Steenokkerzeel, Belgium. History TEA was fou ...

. It was later resold to

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding co ...

(with chairman Richard Branson) who created

Virgin Express N.V. Virgin Express S.A. was a Belgian airline created within the Virgin Group. It operated flights mainly to southern Europe from its hub at Brussels Airport. Ticket sales were mainly through the Internet. The airline merged with SN Brussels Ai ...

City Bird

In 1996, he created the low cost airline Citybird, which company filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Birdy

After Citybird, he started the Birdy company, reselling it to SN Brussels Airlines in 2004.

References

1957 births 2005 deaths Businesspeople in aviation 20th-century Belgian businesspeople {{Belgium-business-bio-stub