The 52-year-old Belgian national spent 20 years helping Liege Airport grow from a small regional airport into one of Europe’s leading cargo airports.
He will use his experience to develop Teesside airport, one of the UK’s newest Border Control Posts.
Verhasselt spends his time travelling the world through his firm FB Cargo Strategy.
His background was in seed capital and venture capital before moving into aviation.
He says you have to be more inventive in developing routes compared to passenger travel, calling every cargo route development a mini-project.
“Passengers arrive at an airport and go home or to a hotel. Cargo can arrive – but if nobody deals with it, it can sit at an airport for years. Running cargo is much more than just running airside operations. It’s about customs, licence checks, border control, taking cargo to its final destination. That’s what makes it interesting,” he says.
Teesside’s £2.5 million cargo facility has been successful since it opened for business and the airport’s status as a BCP means it can handle flowers, fruit and vegetables.
The airport has road connections to the A1(M) and the A66, and rail links to the East Coast Mainline, meaning it can serve 95% of the UK’s businesses in six hours.
Teesside Airport is a customs zone as part of the Teesside Freeport.
In June, FedEx signed a five-year deal with Teesside for an airfreight handling facility with eight additional inbound and outbound flights a week.
Verhasselt says, “The market offer in Northern England is under-developed and there may well be an opportunity there. You’ve also got Brexit which hasn’t quite been digested – companies are still working it out and there are logistic challenges so there are opportunities there.”
He sees potential for handling perishables from Africa, business in the US and stopovers with Asia.
Verhasselt will be joined by his colleague from FB Cargo Strategy, Koen Servaes, who has 38 years of aviation experience.
Welcoming the pair, Phil Forster, Managing Director of Teesside International Airport, says, “To have access to their vast knowledge and expertise is invaluable and we’re delighted they’ve seen our potential and come on board.”