WHBM

Denim Air started up as a scheduled F-50 operator on this Eindhoven-LCY route, but soon changed their business to an ACMI operation (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance) substituting for other airlines in various ways. It was begun by ex-VLM personnel, who also did this work, and both could be found standing in for an unserviceability, new route, major maintenance or whatever all around Europe. Denim gave up their schedule to LCY, and for a while did a lot of commuter work for Iberia, but they occasionally came back to LCY, and when KLM started a service here they actually provided the aircraft initially, done up in KLM livery. All F-50s for some years, they later moved on to Dash-8 and Fokker F.100 aircraft. They suspended operation last year.

And speaking of the F-50 and London City, it's back ! New operator Air Antwerp with a striking new livery on good old OO-VLS, as apparent from the registration a former VLM aircraft, which after previous service with Lufthansa and Iberia turned up as an LCY regular in 2001, merged into CityJet and it's colours, came back as the "second time round" VLM a few years ago, that operation closed down but now it's here again running to old haunt Antwerp, which is virtually a suburb of Brussels, but as there's no Brussels service from LCY it's the only route to Belgium. London and Antwerp are the two European, if not world, centres of the diamond trade, and there's long been some good business traffic between the two, a number of traders having offices in both places.

Air Antwerp’s Inaugural Day – Fokker 50 between London City and Antwerp