Grounded: Delsey Airlines / VG Airlines

This episode of Grounded takes a look at the short-lived VG Airlines, later known as Delsey Airlines. A Belgian airline formed in the wake of the collapse of Sabena which was pretty much doomed from the start thanks to a lack of start-up capital and the involvement of Air Holland. Despite a rebrand to a "more recognisable" name Delsey Airlines struggled on for a couple more months before the inevitable happened and the airline was grounded. Grab a brew, sit back and relax as we take a look at the VG Airlines / Delsey Airlines story.
Chapter Contents
00:00 Intro
00:16 Exit Sabena
01:49 VG Airlines
03:57 The livery
04:47 Regulatory red tape
06:52 A growing fleet with nowhere to go
08:05 VG takes-off
10:24 Financial trouble
11:29 Rebranding as Delsey Airlines
13:20 Fighting low passenger numbers
15:07 Huge losses and cutbacks
16:00 Delsey is Grounded
16:36 What Went Wrong?
22:40 Outro & Credits
I mention several airlines in this episode which have been covered already in the Grounded Series, links to those episodes can be found here;
TEA - Trans European Airways
Formed as a scrappy charter carrier based in Belgium in the 1970s, TEA grew to form the first pan-European airline with subsidiaries in France, Turkey, Italy and the UK. Their overexpansion would be their downfall with the airline collapsing at the dawn of the 1990s.
• Grounded: Trans Europe...
Virgin Express / EuroBelgian Airlines
Formed from the ashes of Trans European Airways, EuroBelgian Airlines would morph into Virgin Express, becoming Belgium's second largest airline until they were merged into the incumbent flag carrier to become Brussels Airlines.
• Grounded: Virgin Express
CityBird
A third airline adventure from the men behind TEA and EBA/VEX, CityBird had different ambitions at first but history would soon repeat itself as the airline billed as "The Flying Dream" began to have nightmares...
• Grounded: CityBird
National Airlines
The 3rd incarnation of National Airlines, based in Las Vegas and partially owned by the growing hotel empire, operating a fleet of Boeing 757s this airline was arguably ahead of its time coming before the boom in Vegas tourism.
• Grounded: National Air...
Thanks for watching! I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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#GroundedSeries #DelseyAirlines #VGAirlines

[@ShadowRaccoon]

Always enjoy the little visual gags you add in to these. Another entertaining episode!

[@ExpoAviation]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy them :)

[@maxsmodels]

Another great video Phil

[@ExpoAviation]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@sexyguy3647]

As always, great to see a new video. Know it's gonna be excellent

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you I appreciate that :)

[@AlexAviation.]

VG airlines had a beautiful livery on their A330s in the past ❤

[@ExpoAviation]

Yes it was very eye-catching :)

[@AviationCommercials]

As a proper Bostonian from Beantown, I never thought I would see so many of my neighbor's homes on this channel. Great video! ps- I owe you an email.

[@ExpoAviation]

Looking forward to it ;)

[@johannesbols57]

The mention of National Airlines onward flights connecting via LAS reminded me of a trip my parents took SEA to New York via ORD Boxing Day in the late 1990s. I recall they saved a few $ connecting via ORD. Their avgeek son (me) told them they were insane to connect via ORD in the Winter. I was proved right when they got snowed in at ORD and had to spend the night there, paid for by the airline they were flying. Moral of the story: when your avgeek relative tells you about red flags, believe them.

[@ExpoAviation]

Haha yes that is very true, I had a similar experience in 2003/2004 when my parents booked our family holiday and when they showed me the flight details I raised an eyebrow, after a bit of digging around I told them that there is no way that airline will be flying us in the summer as they are bound to go bust and sure enough they did, maybe that was some foreshadowing of my "Grounded" skill ;)

[@edwardsp1916]

Very interesting as they're not an airline I was aware off.

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you, yes they were not around for very long so easily missed/forgotten :)

[@skytube6926]

Thanks

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you :)