Seven Airbus A400Ms for Belgium

The Belgian Air Force Air Component has just joined the Airbus A400M operators' club by receiving its first order for seven aircraft on 22 December. The aircraft was handed over to the customer on the A400M final assembly line in Seville (Spain) and then made its delivery flight to the 15th Air Transport Wing in Melsbroek, where the A400M will be based. The MSN106 will be operated by a bi-national unit consisting of a total of eight aircraft, seven from the Air Component of the Belgian Army and one from the Luxembourg Armed Forces. Delivery of the second A400M to Belgium is scheduled for early 2021.

10 deliveries in 2020

The MSN106 is the tenth Airbus A400M delivered since the beginning of the year. Alberto Gutiérrez, Director of Military Aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space, is delighted. "With the delivery of this aircraft, all launch customers are now equipped with the A400M. Despite the challenges due to the Covid-19, our teams have completed all 10 aircraft deliveries scheduled for this year, bringing the global fleet in operation to 98 aircraft," he said. A transport aircraft that is increasingly moving up the range, as illustrated by the recent transport of a Griffon weighing over 24 tonnes between Djibouti and Orleans.

Nearly 100 Airbus A400M in fleet

With this first delivery to Belgium, the worldwide fleet of Airbus A400Ms is now approaching 100 units. Between 30 November and 22 December, Airbus will have delivered five A400Ms, bringing the fleet to 93 units.