When it comes to accepting challenges, being at the heart of the Golden Triangle, equidistant from main European gateways such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or Paris, with the UK also close by, is an excellent starting point. Add to this, the fact that Liège Airport is Belgium's largest cargo airport, the fifth largest cargo airport in Europe, and is not restricted by any night flight ban, it is clear that Challenge Airlines BE has a solid basis for success. The ultimate USP, however, comes in the shape of Challenge Handling and Challenge Logistics: With direct access to Challenge Group’s handling and road feeder network subsidiaries operating out of the same location, Challenge Airlines BE is in the unique position of being able to offer a complete solution package to its many international customers, door-to-door, if required.

“Challenge Accepted! are not just words decorating our fleet, they are the Challenge Group motto, and the characteristic attitude of every last employee at Challenge Airlines BE,” says Chief Operating Officer of Challenge Airlines BE, Martin Scheffmann. “Given that we received our AOC less than a year before the start of the pandemic, Challenge Airlines BE has had no end of opportunities to prove that we can move whatever needs moving – Non-standard is our standard, as we like to say. And we not only differentiate ourselves from other carriers in our focus on complex cargo, but also in the attention to customer requirements. Since our fleet is our own, we are not driven by maximising flight hours, and can therefore offer our customers additional ground time to load and unload their complex, odd, or oversized shipments.”

Challenge Airlines BE currently has a pool of around 100 pilots, available to fly its fleet of two Boeing 747 freighters - one 747-400BCF (OO-ACE), and a B747-400ERF (OO-ACF). The fleet is due to double in size by the end of 2023, when two more Boeing 747s are reallocated from Challenge Airlines IL. A letter of intent is also in place for a fifth Boeing 747, in the future.