Notice to Travellers

Dear Air Belgium Traveller,

Madam, Sir,

As you can imagine we are very much looking forward to relaunching our operations and welcoming you onboard again.

Following up on our previous notice of Tuesday May 5th 2020, we would like to give you some updated information.

The Belgian Government has formally announced a travel ban until June 15th 2020 inclusive, which forces us to postpone the resumption date of our scheduled flights to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique beyond June 3rd 2020. According to our latest analysis and current known parameters, the most realistic option would be to resume our scheduled flights as from Wednesday June 24th 2020. Our Customer Support will contact each passengers individually that has been affected by this new postponement in the next few days.

As also indicated on May 5th 2020 and like any other airline, we remain totally dependent on the reopening of destinations for flights coming from Europe, as well as the measures enforced on international passengers and tourists entering the country. As such and like all French Airlines, we are still waiting for an official and clear notice from the French Government. 

Rest assured that we continue to fully cooperate with the concerned Regions and airports at destinations in order to gather as much assurance and information possible. To this day, the competent Authorities have not yet formally confirmed what will be the resumption conditions and mandatory measures to be taken. We will not fail to keep you posted on this matter.

Restarting our route to the French West Indies remains our priority. This being said and as announced, our other priority is to guarantee maximum safety for our passengers and staff members. For this reason, several sanitary measures will be put in place.

The detailed list on sanitary measures will be available on a dedicated page on our website very shortly. Our goal is to ensure maximum comfort combined with a pleasant flight experience while maintaining the highest level of safety possible. 

Our staff’s welcome, friendliness and smiles that characterize Air Belgium's services remain intact. We are more enthusiastic and determined than ever to ensure you an enjoyable trip.   

We thank you for your understanding and trust, and look very much forward to seeing you again.

Our staff remains at your disposal should you have any questions. We will be more than happy to help you.

The Air Belgium team

Dear Air Belgium Traveller,

Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

Good news! Belgium has started its lockdown exit process. Considering the initial steps of the lockdown exit along the recent communications from the Belgian Government, we are looking forward to the possibility to resume our scheduled flight operations.

Nonetheless, the relaunch of our flight program shall be accompanied by specific new reinforced sanitary measures decided by Air Belgium to ensure the optimized protection of all our passengers and employees.

As we previously announced, we are still hopeful to resume our service to the French West Indies as from the 3rd of June 2020. This being said and although things are gently clearing up from the Belgian side, we remain, like any other airline, subject to the reopening of the destination airports and their acceptance of flights bound from Europe. We must also ascertain the measures for allowing international travellers and tourists welcome.

To this end, we are constantly in touch with the concerned Regions and airports and we are anxiously awaiting their decisions and plans that they have yet to communicate to us. It is upon review of all these elements that we will be able to ascertain and reconfirm the exact date on which our flights will resume.

We will communicate further and let you know such a date within the next few days and inform you about the sanitary program that are being implemented in order to safely resume our operations.

We thank you for your understanding and for your trust.

Our services remain at your disposal for any questions you may have.

The Air Belgium team

Dear Air Belgium Traveller,

The current health crisis linked to Covid-19 confronts us with a completely exceptional and unprecedented situation.

Like all airlines, Air Belgium has been forced to reduce its activities and temporarily suspend its scheduled flights to the Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Since then, we have been closely monitoring and re-evaluating the situation on a daily basis.

In the light of the recent developments worldwide and after analysis, it appears that conditions will unfortunately not be in place for a resumption of our flights to the West Indies on May 2, 2020. We are therefore forced to postpone the re-launch date to June 3, 2020.

In case you booked a flight via our website to travel in May, our Team has sent you an email offering you some options to re-plan your trip.

If your flight booking was made through a travel agency or a tour operator, please contact your travel agency or tour operator.

We thank you for your understanding and for your trust.

Feel free to contact us for any question you may have, we will help you in the best possible way.

The Air Belgium Team

We are preparing for the eventuality of flights restrictions and limited access to destination airports.

In this regard, we are urging passengers booked to fly from 18^th March 2020 until 30^th April 2020 to postpone their travel from Belgium to a later date, with exception for passengers residing in the French West Indies and wish to return home.

We are aware of some hotels closing at destinations and with the view to speed up the return of all travellers from Guadeloupe and Martinique, we are adding flight and capacity addition to our scheduled flights this week.

We are trying to reach out to all passengers concerned either directly or via their travel agency or tour operator.

We will continue to communicate in the coming hours and days.

• We are following the development hour by hour and are pre-empting the possibility of a flight ban in order to best accommodate our travellers. Our Company intends to operate all scheduled flights unless we are faced with restrictions from either the Belgian Authorities and/or the Overseas French Territories.

• Our teams are extremely busy handling inquiries and we give priority to the passengers on the basis of the closest departure dates. Therefore, we kindly request your patience if your flight is scheduled to depart after March 21, 2020. Rest assured that we will process each request and assist you in the best way possible.

• For passengers travelling via under a Tour Operator (TO) package, please note that we are coordinating with them in order to provide a clear and precise answers to the passengers concerned.

We thank you for your trust, understanding and patience. 

At this time, Air Belgium flights are operating as normal.

Given COVID-19 development, Air Belgium informs all passengers holding a flight booking for departures between March 18^th and April 3^rd that they will have the opportunity to postpone their trip free of charge within the same booking class and during the same seasonality, for a period not exceeding 1 year from the initial date of travel. Only one date change is authorised.

Of course, we are following the situation hour by hour in close contact with the Belgian and European Authorities, but also destination countries.

We have updated the information about the questions you might be asking yourself as well as the measures we have put in place according to the evolution of the situation.

Discover:

• What is the coronavirus (COVID-19)?
• What are the symptoms of the coronavirus?
• What can you do to avoid becoming infected?
• Is there any point in wearing facemasks?
• How your health is taken care of in an aircraft?
• Is it still safe to travel?
• Can you become infected by touching packages from Italy, China or any other country?
• What is Air Belgium doing about all this?

Read the post now.

In order to prevent any risk to human food and animal feed and to guarantee healthy and good quality crops, the European Union (EU) places great emphasis on plant and crop protection. Consequently, the movement of plants from third countries is monitored in order to prevent harmful organisms from being introduced into, spreading and establishing themselves in the EU.

As a reminder, since 14 December 2019, the import of plant material from third countries is banned in all EU member states through an EU regulation.

This means that the import of plants, fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, seeds and other fresh parts, soil and certain types of wood from countries outside the European Union is prohibited. This ban on the import of plant material also applies to the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin as well as the Canary Islands and Ceuta and Melilla.

However, the import of plant material may be authorised if it comes with a phytosanitary certificate issued by the country of origin.

There are also exemptions for certain types of fruit, including pineapple, coconut, durian, banana and dates, which can be imported from any third country.

High-risk products (potatoes, soil, leafs, citrus fruit etc.) are systematically prohibited.

The customs departments of the EU member states carry out checks.

Dear Passengers,

Good news for your (furry) friend! If your dog is a brachycephalic (or ‘short-headed’) breed, you can take him along with Air Belgium.

How does it work? All you need to do is complete and sign a waiver form. The form is mandatory, whether your pet travels in the cabin or hold.

You can find all the relevant information in the ‘Travelling with pets’ section on our website.

Happy travels, and we hope to see you soon!

Dear Passengers,

We would like to draw your attention to the customs regulations to observe for your journey to the French Antilles.

Although Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre are part of the French territory, the overseas territories like Martinique and Guadeloupe are in fact treated as non-EU territories.

As such, restrictions on the import of products from these territories do apply. Consequently, you are only allowed to bring back one litre of alcohol per person (rum, in particular).

For further information, please visit the Belgian Customs and Excise Service website or the French Directorate-General of Customs and Indirect Taxes portal.

We look forward to welcoming you on board soon!