TOP BUSINESS
On Wednesday 12 January, VLM Airlines sponsored the high profile Manager of the Year awards in Belgium, attended by Belgian Prime Minster Guy Verhofstadt and a host of luminaries from the worlds of Belgian business and politics. VLM Airlines wishes to congratulate all nominees of the prestigious award, and especially Mr. Ajit Shetty, President and Chief Executive Officer of Janssen Pharmaceutica, who was voted Manager of the Year 2004. This annual election of the top manager in Flanders is an initiative of Trends and Channel Z, in collaboration with the Flemish Management Association (VMA). The managers of the year in Wallonia were Laurent Minguet and Pierre L'Hoest from the company EVS, and it is hoped that the awards will help to continue the promotion of business excellence.

E-TICKETING
The airline industry has taken a global position to ban paper tickets by 2007. At present, some 300 million paper tickets are still processed every year. Paper tickets cost 10 times more to produce than e-tickets, and are of course more harmful to the environment.

VLM Airlines has decided to move ahead of this time frame, and introduced e-ticketing in February 2005. In the first phase, the so- called 'own distribution' channels will offer e-ticketing, while in the second phase, e-ticketing will be available via travel agents before the end of 2005.

This move makes VLM Airlines one of the first regional airlines to offer e-ticketing, underlining our desire to be an innovative, progressive airline. A number of other new technologies, like web-based or mobile check-in, are currently being examined.

NETWORK EXPANDS
In January, VLM Airlines announced the further expansion of its network with the launch of a new route from Brussels to Southampton, with two weekday flights and one on Sundays. The move strengthens the presence of VLM Airlines in the Belgium- UK market, and brings the second largest city in the South East of England into the airline's growing network. Southampton is an important business and leisure destination in the region, with a city region population of 600,000 and the fourth largest growth rate in the UK. Southampton Airport was named Airport of the Year by the European Regions Airline Association for 2004-05, reflecting its prodigious growth in passenger numbers, up 73 per cent in 2003- 04 compared to 2002-03. David Cumming, Managing Director of Southampton Airport said, 'We are extremely proud to welcome VLM Airlines to our airport. Their excellent punctuality and reliability match the strategy of our airport, as we both ensure high levels of customer service.' Johan Vanneste, Managing Director of VLM Airlines added, 'The Brussels to Southampton route fits in well with our portfolio of routes, which is offering our business passengers a punctual and comfortable means of travel.'

www.flyvlm.comNEW WEBSITE
In February VLM Airlines reviewed its website and launched a completely new e-commerce platform in a move designed to more thoroughly represent the airline's vision and strategy. The new website has a more contemporary look and feel, and its new booking engine ensures that information to the passenger is more comprehensive, with detailed information relating to the individual's booking and travel plans with VLM Airlines.

The website's new platform and CMS will also allow VLM Airlines to rapidly alter, update and communicate relevant information to the customer. Special attention has been given to the user experience, which will allow for even more efficient online booking and content search.

The new website's e-ticketing function means that passengers making their reservations online will no longer need to collect their tickets but can immediately progress to the check-in counters. Passengers using the new application will also be able to retrieve previous bookings or reprint their itinerary. Other applications like web-based check-in and online change and cancellation will be integrated later.

OUR FLYING HERO
Back in December VLM Airlines launched a unique employee reward scheme, offering staff the chance to have one of the Fokker F50 aircraft named after them. Employees were invited to nominate another person within the company who they think has achieved something special or has gone the extra mile in recent months. Several criteria were set for nominees; evidence of teamwork, customer friendliness, motivation shown, commitment to excellence and respect earned were all required. The first winner was Carol Gallogly (42) a Management Assistant at London City Airport who has worked for VLM Airlines for the past seven years and was picked for her friendliness, efficiency and calm nature. 'This is the best gift anyone has ever given me,' said Carol, on seeing the aircraft newly named after her. 'Thank you all so much, and let me add that we all, as a team, play an important role and the company's success is a result of all our efforts put together.' A new flying hero will be named every two months, and there are plenty more suitable candidates waiting for their chance to be recognised. 'We have a wonderful team of hard working and very dedicated people at VLM Airlines,' said Johan Vanneste, Managing Director of VLM Airlines, 'and this is a unique way to thank our people for their continued efforts. Never before in the airline industry has an airline rewarded its staff with the naming of an aircraft.'

SAFETY FIRST
In a bid to further increase safety measures across the board and provide the optimum service to passengers, VLM Airlines has fitted the new EGPWS (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System) to all 14 of its aircraft. EGPWS compares the aeroplane's position in three-dimensional space to a terrain database stored in an onboard computer. This look-ahead feature is the critical difference compared to the former system called GPWS, which looked directly down but gave no warning of unforeseen obstacles ahead. By combining cutting edge technology with the existing expertise of our pilots and crew, VLM Airlines is able to offer an even higher level of safety and reliability to all of its passengers.

A BUMPER YEAR FOR VLM AIRLINES
The number of scheduled passengers flying with VLM Airlines increased by 31 per cent in 2004, with 553,795 travellers choosing the airline over its competition. The growth follows the launch of two new routes in 2004, and the consolidation and expansion of others. The Liverpool to London City route launched in February last year and has carried almost 70,000 passengers in its first year of operation, while the Jersey to London City route began in June 2004 and has managed to carry 25,000 passengers in just six months. There was also good news across the rest of the network, with routes to Luxembourg, Rotterdam and Antwerp also experiencing growth and the launch of two new routes promising to increase numbers even further in 2005.

TSUNAMI RELIEF
The tragic disaster that occurred in South East Asia did not leave us untouched. In response we started an initiative, which thanks to our passengers has achieved a tremendous success. For each ticket that was bought we gave €1 to the victims of the region. As a result a total amount of €25,150 was given to the Belgian tsunami appeal 1212.

INCREASED FREQUENCIES
Last year the passenger numbers on this route increased by 24% compared to 2003. We are absolutely delighted to see a growing number of passengers choose our airline when travelling from Luxembourg to London, so we have increased the frequency on this route to four flights every day, allowing our passengers more flexibility when flying to London City.

10 DAILY FLIGHTS BETWEEN ROTTERDAM AND LONDON CITY
A growing number of passengers are discovering the advantages of Rotterdam and London City's business regional airports, so we now offer even more flexibility on the route, allowing our passengers to better plan their agenda. With ten daily rotations and excellent punctuality, business passengers can rely on VLM Airlines to get them to their destination on time when it best suits them.

RIGHT ON TIME
VLM Airlines continues to dominate the punctuality league tables, with the latest statistics from Manchester Airport revealing that it was the airport's most punctual airline in 2004. 94% of VLM Airlines' 2,292 flights out of Manchester in 2004 departed early, on-time or within 15 minutes of scheduled timings, with an average delay of just three minutes. The airline maintained its position ahead of Eastern Airways (the only other airline to top 90% for the year) and comfortably beat its key competitors including KLM, BMI and British Airways, all of which failed to achieve above 84%.

It is a similar story for arrivals into Manchester, with 92% of VLM flights arriving early, on-time or within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival times. With these excellent statistics for both departures and arrivals it is clear that VLM Airlines is the most punctual airline operating to and from Manchester. VLM Airlines' UK Regional Manager, Titus Johnson comments: 'We are extremely proud of our excellent on-time performance figures. The Manchester to London City service is crucial for business and leisure travellers alike, and with frequent daily flights linking the two cities in just one hour, punctuality is of up-most importance. As an airline we continually strive for excellent customer service and it is hugely rewarding for that to be recognised.'