Brussels Airlines future and financial perspective

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Hello there,
'hope that everyone enjoyed the summer break...
Is it still confirmed that LH will give its position regarding SN before the end of the year?
Personnally, I would of course prefer to see brussels airlines keeping its own identity and enough "independance" within the LH Group, even if the take over goes full.
We will see it soon anyway...
Cheers to you all!
Vincent, F-Paris

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Are there any intra-European expansion plans?

Finnair has on weekdays 4 flights between Helsinki and Brussels, I sometimes think (as a beholder from here), there must be some room from competition.
Tallinn, as long as Nordica is around (perhaps not so long, as I understood), will not be on the table I suppose. Their prices are outrageous though, but there are quite some cheaper options like SAS (I kid you not), Finnair, airBaltic and Lufthansa which offer connecting flights.
I would like to have a reasonable priced option on direct flights..

I was also wondering about the HEL-BRU route... as I think AY remains the sole competitor on that one... There must be some room for SN, what do you think? I think that SN Brussels Airlines did axe the room in the same time they did with some other european cities, like WAW. It seems that brussels airlines is doing well on the latter since they decided to relaunch it, even with the competition from LOT and Wizzair...
If AY does operate 4 daily flights on the HEL-BRU, maybe it's a good opportunity for SN to consider it again...

[travellover]

I wonder if in the future, SN will give more breath to their growing long-haul fleet and network by keeping as much as possible among the available fleet a spare aircraft.

[b720]

I think that AY relies on connecting pax onwards to Asia; hence their multiple rotations HEL-BRU-HEL?

[Passenger]

Number of Belgian tourists visiting Finland in 2015: 26.200:
11.900 Nov-April
14.300 May-Oct

from which:
6.000 High Winter Season = Dec/Jan/Febr
8.600 High Summer Season = June/July/August

Source:
http://visitfinland.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb ... 5b329d4f58

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Number of Belgian tourists visiting Finland in 2015: 26.200:
11.900 Nov-April
14.300 May-Oct

from which:
6.000 High Winter Season = Dec/Jan/Febr
8.600 High Summer Season = June/July/August

Source:
http://visitfinland.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb ... 5b329d4f58

Very interesting figures... thanks!

[b720]

excluding the number of Finns visiting Belgium, the figures - kindly provided by Passenger - do not even justify the current frequencies of AY, they probably transport much more than the number of Belgian tourists onward to Asia.

[ezis_bis]

Good to know indeed
But lots of traffic between Brussels and any EU state capitals depends for large amounts on Civil servants flying back and forth.
Hence Nordica here
And business
All in all, BRU-HEL will depend little on tourism and more on connections, I suppose

[Jaguar]

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/economie/1.2760486

[Inquirer]

I'll take the task upon me to post a link to an article from De Tijd:
http://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/luchtvaar ... 1473192957

Summary:

(Anonymus) Belgian shareholder will not agree to any take-over plan in which Brussels Airlines disappears.

A hostile take-over is undesirable for both Lufthansa as well as Brussels Airlines.

Lufthansa could make a decision in principle next week, without deciding on the integration modalities.

Most favoured outcome is for a take-over and stand-alone for the next few years, while further discussions are conducted.

Brussels Airlines was going to double their profit this year, but the impact of the attacks will mean they will book a small positive result only; much depends on how quick the corporate market recovers in Belgium as from September.

[sn26567]

(Anonymus) Belgian shareholder will not agree to any take-over plan in which Brussels Airlines disappears.

The "anonymous" shareholder might well be Viscount Davignon himself as Chairman of the Board of SN. He is in favour of a full takeover by LH as long as the Belgian roots of the company are maintained. He made no secret of it during the last months. And I guess he will be supported by a majority of Belgians. Why should LH handle SN differently than OS or LX?

[Flanker2]

Why should LH handle SN differently than OS or LX?

OS isn't particularily getting a nice treatment, as they are losing route after route to Eurowings.
Can't make it profitable? Bam, cut & paste to Eurowings.

We'll see what will happen but I can already see LH backing out of making a decision now, deferring the decision again to next spring. They have become predictable in that way.
It's been over 6 years that the majority shareholders have been take for a ride, but each time, poof, it was another Lufthansa mirage.

SN only makes sense to LH if it's cheap and can be used to boost Eurowings. Other than that, probably in their corporate view, there is no fat left to trim and the profit or growth potential is fairly limited. The profit and growth potential is actually enormous but it requires some vision and some risk-taking. Lufthansa is not visionary and the only risk they take is to copy what everything else is doing at the moment and they all fail together at it.

[Passenger]

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/economie/1.2760486

"...Brussels Airlines en moederbedrijf Lufthansa voeren constructieve gesprekken over een eventuele volledige overname van de holding SN Airholding, de koepel boven Brussels Airlines. Eerder was gemeld dat Lufthansa volgende week al zal beslissen of het SN Airholding volledig overneemt, maar dat blijkt voorbarig. Momenteel bezit Lufthansa 45 procent van de aandelen van SN Airholding. De Duitse maatschappij beschikt al jaren over de mogelijkheid om Brussels Airlines volledig over te nemen, maar heeft tot nu toe steeds de kat uit de boom gekeken. Eerder was gemeld dat de raad van bestuur van Lufthansa volgende week al zou beslissen of de Duitse maatschappij ook de resterende 55 procent aandelen in SN Airholding overneemt, maar dat is voorbarig zegt de raad van bestuur van Brussels Airlines. Er was ook gezegd dat de kans groot was dat Brussels Airlines in zijn huidige gedaante en bedrijfsvorm nog minstens twee jaar verder zou kunnen werken, maar ook dat kan de raad van bestuur niet bevestigen. Er wordt constructief gepraat en er zijn verschillende scenario's mogelijk, maar een beslissing wordt nog niet snel verwacht, zo zei woordvoerder Geert Sciot..."

Translated: talks are still ongoing. In good atmosphere, but no decision has to be expected next week. Same about the rumours that Brussels Airlines nv/sa will go on unchanged for two more years: no denial/confirmation. "Don't expect a final decision soon", the spokesman told the press.

[Boavida]

I really hate this uncertainty. And it looks like we'll have to deal with this ("will SN disappear or not?") for years to come. Damn you, LH.

Like I said before: if LH decides to 'kill' Brussels Airlines, I will do absolutely everything in my power not to fly this generic, soulless, dull "Eurowings" ever. And many Belgians with me.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

I really hate this uncertainty. And it looks like we'll have to deal with this ("will SN disappear or not?") for years to come. Damn you, LH.

Like I said before: if LH decides to 'kill' Brussels Airlines, I will do absolutely everything in my power not to fly this generic, soulless, dull "Eurowings" ever. And many Belgians with me.

I do totally agree... that would be a complete nonsense!!!

... moreover, market doesn't like uncertainty too...

[DeltaWiskey]

While I also don't want to see the Brussels Airlines brand disappear, and it would be a real shame if it does, I can understand that some Germans do no really see a lot of value in it. 'Brussels' has a (very) bad connotation abroad, Brussels is used as a synonym for the bureaucracy burden of the EU and all the bad things that happen in the EU. The attacks and Belgian politics in the last year didn't help either.

Belgians have a very different feeling associated with 'Brussels' than most other Europeans, let's not forget this.

[AIRMARSHAL]

...

[ezis_bis]

Belgians have a very different feeling associated with 'Brussels' than most other Europeans, let's not forget this.

This is only partially true. Brussels is also a place of hope and progress for other Europeans.
Brexiteers and Wilders might dislike it, but others still like the EU and connotation of Brussels.

Not to forget the food.

I bring bags full of food when I come from Belgium, beer and food are closely (and positively) associated with the place in the mind of non-Belgians

[Conti764]

While I also don't want to see the Brussels Airlines brand disappear, and it would be a real shame if it does, I can understand that some Germans do no really see a lot of value in it. 'Brussels' has a (very) bad connotation abroad, Brussels is used as a synonym for the bureaucracy burden of the EU and all the bad things that happen in the EU. The attacks and Belgian politics in the last year didn't help either.

Belgians have a very different feeling associated with 'Brussels' than most other Europeans, let's not forget this.

Then replace 'Brussels' with 'Belgium'

No need to change the logo, colours, wathever

[brusselsairlinesfan]

While I also don't want to see the Brussels Airlines brand disappear, and it would be a real shame if it does, I can understand that some Germans do no really see a lot of value in it. 'Brussels' has a (very) bad connotation abroad, Brussels is used as a synonym for the bureaucracy burden of the EU and all the bad things that happen in the EU. The attacks and Belgian politics in the last year didn't help either.

Belgians have a very different feeling associated with 'Brussels' than most other Europeans, let's not forget this.

Then replace 'Brussels' with 'Belgium'

No need to change the logo, colours, wathever

Indeed... I always thought about something like "belgian airlines" as new brand after the demise of Sabena