Victor Hasson (1957 – January 10, 2005), also known as Vico was a Belgian (born in Burundi) businessman who started multiple companies.

Career

Victor Hasson, also known as "Vico", graduated from the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

with a degree in medicine. After graduating, Victor quickly realized that Medicine was not for him and decided to join his family's business.

CityHotel

Created by his uncles and managed by Victor and his brother Albert, the Hasson's most successful business was the City Hotel group. The company was later sold to the

KBC Group KBC Group N.V. is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredie ...

European Belgian Airline (EBA)

Hasson started the European Belgian Airline, a low-cost company built off of the old market share from

Trans European Airways Trans European Airways, usually referred to by its initials TEA, was a Belgian airline that operated from 1971 to 1991. It had its head office in Building 117 on the grounds of Melsbroek Airport in Steenokkerzeel, Belgium. History TEA was fo ...

. It was later resold to

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding compa ...

(with chairman

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

) who created

Virgin Express N.V. Virgin Express S.A. was a Belgian airline created within the Virgin Group. It operated flights mainly to southern Europe from its hub at Brussels Airport. Ticket sales were mainly through the Internet. The airline merged with SN Brussels ...

City Bird

In 1996, he created the low cost airline

Citybird CityBird S.A. was an airline founded in 1996 and based in Building 117D, Melsbroek Air Base in Zaventem. The airline filed for bankruptcy in October 2001. Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium considered buying them out of bankruptcy, but later pulled ou ...

, which company filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Birdy

After Citybird, he started the Birdy company, reselling it to

SN Brussels Airlines SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) was the flag carrier of Belgium, which mainly operated from Brussels Airport. SNBA was the trading name of the Belgian airline Delta Air Transport. SNBA was a full-service airline, connecting Brussels with the rest ...

in 2004.

References

1957 births 2005 deaths Businesspeople in aviation 20th-century Belgian businesspeople {{Belgium-business-bio-stub