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Passenger air transport

Current registrations 450division 51: 517
Starters, 12 months 347.6 per 100 · Belgium 8.8
Employment (FTE) 4,76520 employers · latest accounts
Median age 8.8 yearsBelgium 8.1 years

No bankruptcy in the past twelve months.

Filed accounts

NACE 51100 · financial year 2025 · 183 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
37.7%
division 36.4% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€5,921
division €5,958 · Belgium €16,539
Median equity
€59,480
division €66,430 · Belgium €98,485
Loss-making
39.9%
division 39.5% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
24.6%
division 24.1% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
8.5%
division 9.6% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.52
division 1.55 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
32.3%
financial year 2024, 195 filings · division 34.8% · Belgium 38.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 40.4%34.7%34.1%36.9%40.0%37.7%
Median net result €2,526€2,749€3,498€5,255€8,364€5,921

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
3
0.67% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
5
11.1 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
07-05-2025 Air Belgium
BE 0648.801.623
26-03-2024 Nabavieh, Kiarash
BE 0758.827.931 · sole trader · Antwerp
04-09-2023 BLUETAIL FLIGHT SCHOOL
BE 0556.797.222

Every bankruptcy in division 51, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 298 of 450 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 186 · 62.4%
  • Wallonia 54 · 18.1%
  • Brussels 15 · 5.0%
  • Abroad 43 · 14.4%
fewer moremax 51

Largest employers

NACE 51100 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 BRUSSELS AIRLINESMachelen (Brab.) 2,832 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 TUI AIRLINES BELGIUMZaventem 1,073 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 Air BelgiumMont-Saint-Guibert 451 FTEfinancial year 2023
  4. 4 NOORDZEE HELIKOPTERS VLAANDERENOstend 129 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 FLYING SERVICEAntwerp 75.0 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 29 companies
  • 315.02 Commercial aviation 14
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 6
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 5
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 3
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
  • 119 Food trade 1
  • 149.02 Coachwork 1
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 1
Show the 2 others
  • 315.01 Commercial aviation 1
  • 315.03 Commercial aviation 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 51: Air transport

Related activities

2 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Freight air transport51210 67 5 0 772
Space transport51220 3 0 0 -

Bankruptcies per year in division 51

Per year20152016201720182019202020222023202420252026
Bankruptcies24413221241
Jobs lost4170878422123138

2026 through January. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 51

29 employers
Median
€86,900
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€66,800 to €97,300
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
6 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first

3 of the 359 companies in NACE division 51 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Switzerland (1), Germany (1) and Ireland (1). Together they employ 1,494 of the division's 5,537 FTE: 27%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €9.8m awarded 32 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Werkingssubsidie S&S Nv Kortrijk-Wevelgem
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €16,000 paid 1 recipient · 2025 · largest: Dépenses de toute nature pour le financement de projets divers en liaison avec la politique de l'enseignement
  • EU budget €653,576 attributed share 3 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Decentralised Agencies, Joint Undertakings, EU institutions
  • EU research €552,960 EU contribution 2 recipients · 2016 to 2021 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Passenger air transport

Balance sheet and result. 24.6% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €5,921 is below Belgium's €16,539. 39.9% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.4% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. 33.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 7.6 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. That is more than in 56% of the 87 NACE divisions. This activity holds 87.0% of the registrations of Air transport.

Staff and filing. 32.3% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 4,560 of the 4,765 FTE: 95.7%.

Direction. Median solvency fell from 40.4% in financial year 2020 to 37.7% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €2,526 in financial year 2020 to €5,921 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 51100 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today.