On the 17th of April 2007, VLM made a promotional tour with their new BAe 146, the first jet in the fleet. It will be tested for 9 months, after which the management is going to decide whether tot retain the jet. If the trials turn out to be positive, more aircraft may be added. The aircraft is wetleased from Flightline, a British company which specialises in leasing aircraft to other companies. VLM decided to paint the aircraft immediately in its full corporate colour scheme. For the time being, the BAe 146 jet flies 4 out of 10 daily rotations from Rotterdam to London City.

The airline has flown Fokker 50s since they launched commercial passenger services in 1993, but they thought the time had come to increase the capacity on some of their routes. Bigger capacity is needed since the airline flies into airports like London City, where slots are very difficult to obtain. As well as increased capacity, the airline can now boast even shorter flying times and a bigger range. Johan Vanneste, CEO of VLM Airlines, likes to state that VLM is still the fastest way into London, faster than Eurostar. The ad hoc charter market also opens up new possibilities thanks to the bigger range of the jet.

The promotional tour flew from Rotterdam to Brussels and thereafter to Luxembourg, Antwerp and back to Rotterdam. I was given the opportunity to attend the press conference in Brussels and fly from Brussels to Luxembourg and Antwerp. A special thanks goes out to the marketing people at VLM and Hugo Lücke.

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