ASL Airlines Belgium, (ASLB) formerly TNT Airways, is a Belgian cargo airline operating chartered flights mainly to European destinations. It has its head office and hub on the grounds of Liège Airport. The airline was originally a subsidiary of TNT Express but was acquired by ASL Aviation Holdings DAC and rebranded in 2016. ASL Aviation Holdings DAC, the parent company of ASL Airlines Belgium, is headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. ASLB operates worldwide Boeing 737 freighter services under the ASL Aviation Holdings brand and for major express integrator and e-commerce customers including FedEx and Alibaba. In addition to its own fleet, the airline also manages various third-party airlines providing aircraft for FedEx's European network.

History

TNT Express was established in Australia in the 1940s, by Ken Thomas. The company expanded from a single truck to road and rail freight services across Australia including, for the first time, new overnight services. In 1958, the company became known as Thomas Nationwide Transport or TNT for short and, by 1961, TNT had become so successful that it was listed on the Australian stock exchange. The company was founded in 1999 as TNT Airways in Belgium. Air cargo operations began in Belgium and operated from Liège Airport. TNT Airways started to work with BAe 146-300 and Airbus A300. This transformation brought the company to an extension from a European to a Worldwide coverage. The Group introduced their first Boeing 737-300 in 2003. In May 2004, TNT Post Group (TPG) announced major expansion of the TNT Express European air hub in Liège, Belgium. To consolidate and improve recognition of the TNT brand, the name 'TPG' was dropped in favor of 'TNT' in 2005. The split-up of TNT N.V. which was announced in December 2010, materialized in May 2011 when TNT Express and TNT Post (now: PostNL) were separately listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. In May 2016, ASL Aviation Holdings acquires TNT Airways which joins the ASL portfolio of 9 other airlines in Europe, South Africa and Asia. Rebranded as ASL Airlines Belgium, the Airline signs a multi-year service agreement with the new Fedex/TNT combination.

Destinations

As of November 2021, ASL Airlines Belgium serves six scheduled destinations in North America and China under its own brand name with several dozen more operated as contracted charters, e. g. on behalf of DHL.

Fleet

, the ASL Airlines Belgium fleet consists of the following registered aircraft:

Current fleet

Retired Fleet

In June 2021, ASL Aviation Holdings announced it had ordered up to 20 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) aircraft - 10 firm orders and 10 options at the Paris Air Show. This was extended to an additional 20 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF) in March 2022. ASL's order, including options brings the number of 737-800BCF to 40 aircraft. Eleven aircraft operate for ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France, ASL Airlines Ireland and ASL's joint venture airline, K-Mile Asia.

Accidents and incidents