Belgian International Air Services (abbreviated BIAS) was a Belgian

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

with its headquarters in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and Brussels.Belgian Air Services history
/ref> It was operational between 1959 and 1980 and offered mainly passenger and cargo air charter flights from

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

to the former Belgian colonies in Central Africa.

History

Belgian International Air Services Caravelle Volpati

BIAS was founded on 1 July 1959 by Charles van Antwerpen and George Richardson. The first commercial flight (between

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) took place a week later. In 1967, a co-operation contract with SABENA, the Belgian flag carrier airline was signed, which saw BIAS operating scheduled commuter flights out of Brussels Airport. These were branded as ''Common Market Commuter'', using

de Havilland Heron The de Havilland DH.114 Heron is a small propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more engines. It was designed as a rugged, ...

aircraft. The first of these flights (from

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, Long-haul flight operations with BIAS had already ended in February 1973, when Compagnie Maritime Belge, its majority shareholder at that time, decided that the fleet of Douglas DC-8 aircraft be integrated into

Delta Air Transport Delta Air Transport (abbreviated DAT) was a Belgian regional airline headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, operating scheduled and chartered flights, mostly on short-haul routes. It served a multitude of regional European destinations on behalf o ...

. When the commuter flights also came to an end in 1975, BIAS continued to do business as an

aircraft lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

provider until 1980, when the company was dismantled.

Fleet

Over the years, BIAS operated the following aircraft types:

Accidents and incidents

*On 18 February 1966 at 02:04 UTC, a BIAS Douglas DC-6 cargo aircraft ( registered OO-ABG) overshot the runway upon landing at Malpensa Airport following a flight from Brussels with 241 calves on board. The aircraft caught fire and was completely destroyed when it crashed into a stand of trees, killing the four occupants. *On 28 March 1969, a BIAS

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

(registered OO-SBH) was damaged beyond repair in a wheels-up landing in the

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...

. The 17 passengers on board survived the crash.

References

External links

{{Airlines of Belgium Defunct airlines of Belgium Airlines established in 1959 Airlines disestablished in 1980 1980 disestablishments in Belgium Belgian companies established in 1959