HB-JJE: The Swiss Boeing 757 from Brussels has been cancelled

For eight years, travelers to and from Brussels could see the green and white plane. It bore the EC Air logo, and the letters stand for Congo Equatorial Airways, which was the national airline of the Republic of the Congo until its bankruptcy in 2016.

Only attentive observers noticed that the plane's license plate was not coming from the Congo. HB-JJE was written on the fuselage next to the Swiss flag. Because the Boeing 757 was actually owned by the Swiss charter airline Privatair – which also no longer exists.

Part of the plane is still in Brussels

The plane had been stuck in Brussels since December 2015. After EC Air went bankrupt, the plane was confiscated. Now the Boeing 757 disappears from Brussels. A spokeswoman for the airport, on behalf of the Belga Agency, also confirmed that it had been sold to Eco Fly, a company specializing in aircraft dismantling.

Last Monday, experts began dismantling HB-JJE. The process should be completed by the end of March. The airport says part of the plane remains in Brussels: one wing will be used for tests under extreme weather conditions. Details of the tests were not revealed.

30 years

The HB-JJE was delivered in January 1994 and initially flew for British Airways. After eleven years, I moved to Thomsonfly, then to Tuifly Nordic and finally to Thomson Airways. Privatair acquired the aircraft in June 2013 and has since used it on behalf of EC Air. The Boeing 757 was removed from the Swiss aircraft registry in 2019.

Before the plane was stranded in Brussels, it was confiscated once. Various Congolese companies have accused the government of owing them money. The Boeing 757 was briefly seized in France as collateral.