CityBird was an airline founded in 1996, based in Building 117D, Melsbroek Airport in Zaventem.[1] The airline filed for bankruptcy in October 2001. Thomas Cook considered buying them out of bankruptcy, but later pulled out.
They flew a fleet of 12 aircraft including the Boeing 767-300ER, Airbus A300-600, Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11. Over 50 European cities were served via Brussels. Citybird employed over 600 employees as of 2001 and was listed at NASDAQ Europe a.k.a. Eastdaq under the ticker symbol CBIR (CityBird holding SA) in November 1997. Though they had bought their first MD-11 in December 1996, they began operations in March 1997.
Their planes offered a "Royal Eagle" business class, "Premium Flamingo" class (not on Newark flights), and "Colibri" economy class. They used the "point-to-point" approach to air travel rather than the "hub and spoke" wherein all flights (from Los Angeles, Newark, Oakland, Miami, Orlando or Mexico City) all went to Brussels Airport. All aircraft featured the airline's tagline, "The Flying Dream."
In July 1999, CityBird began cargo activities using two A300-600 "full freighters."
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