ACE Belgium Freighters (ACE) has gained an air operator certificate (AOC) from the Belgian civil aviation authority and has its first aircraft, a Boeing 747-400BCF, with plans for a second freighter to come on board by the end of this year.
Eshel Heffetz, who heads ACE, confirmed that the search is on for a second freighter as the new airline continues with its application to the US aviation authorities for a four or five times a week service to New York JFK and a weekly service to Atlanta from Liege.
Until those approvals come through, possibly by June, ACE will operate charter flights and occasional Liege-Larnaca-Tel Aviv and Liege-Tel Aviv rotations.
Capacity on the ACE flights will be managed by Challenge Air Cargo which has already opened offices in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, with a German office planned for the near future.
The converted freighter (registered as OO-ACE) joins Liege-hubbed ACE from the leasing arm of Maltese-headquartered ACE group, which also owns ACE Belgium Freighters. The ACE aircraft was formerly operated by CAL, also hubbed out of the fast-growing Belgian freighter-friendly airport.
