Alban François Has Left Brussels Airlines Cargo

Since 1 September the AWB number 082 for Brussels Airlines Cargo has ceased to exist, having been replaced by LCAG’s 020. Gone as well is Alban François, SN ’s Vice-President Cargo.
Alban had been with the company for 4 years and 11 months, after having worked for over 7 years for the Belgian Ministry of Defence. He has found a new challenge as Project Director Fresh for Greenyard, a global market leader of fresh, frozen and prepared fruit & vegetables, flowers, plants and growing media.

Staff reduction at BRU
On leaving the air cargo industry, he has also resigned as vice-president of the umbrella organisation Air Cargo Belgium. Within ACB he also acted as the ‘godfather’ for the organisation’s ‘youth branch’ YAN (Young Airfreight Network).

Alban François is not the only one to have left the old SN Cargo team, since the marketing of the company’s capacity was taken over by LCAG. Within the network Brussels has been demoted from HQ to another out station, focussing on the Africa business.

A new role for the Brussels HQ
In Sub-Saharan Africa SN’s network has always been larger than LCAG’s, SN being the sole heir of the historic presence of its predecessor Sabena. Following the integration of the sales activities of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Lufthansa and SWISS into one sales force in Africa, LCAG’s regional sales office for Sub-Saharan Africa was moved from Lagos (Nigeria) to Brussels (Belgium) in the headquarters of Brussels Airlines.
Starting 1 November 2018 VP Sales Africa Philippe Saeys-Desmedt and his team will become responsible for the sales and commercial activities of the entire Lufthansa Group in 24 markets in the above-mentioned region.

Impressive service record
Mr Philippe-Saeys-Desmedt is a veteran of both SN and Sabena. He started his career at the latter in 1986, when he joined as Cargo Operations agent. In 1990 he was appointed General Manager for Uganda, as he began gaining expertise in Africa. He then went on to develop the sales activities in Germany, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea for both Sabena and Swissair.
Under the new succeeding airline Brussels Airlines, he became responsible for sales and ground operations as General Manager for Eastern Africa, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also active as Foreign Trade representative in several African countries for the Belgian Government.  Since 2013 Philippe Saeys-Desmedt has been acting as Vice President Sales Africa for Brussels Airlines, responsible for a team of 350 local staff.

Marcel Schoeters in Brussels