brussels airlines to New York!

[ExSabena]

Following Brussels Airlines ground staff this morning, it seems the aircraft foreseen to perform the first flight has a technical problem ...

[CTBke]

then they'll use another one ... enough aircrafts to perform the first flight ) although it'll be without the retrofit..

[Treeper]

any idea on what the problem is?

[bruteboeing]

then they'll use another one ... enough aircrafts to perform the first flight ) although it'll be without the retrofit..

if they dont have SFM they still can put SFW in, that one has the retrofit aswell

[CTBke]

exact .. forgot about the SFW ... ) well fingers crossed ...

[HighInTheSky]

Following Brussels Airlines ground staff this morning, it seems the aircraft foreseen to perform the first flight has a technical problem ...

I doubt it, OO-SFM is about to land in DLA at the moment...

[Boeing767copilot]

A source at the press conference this morning in B-House explained me that ceo mr. Gustin (SN) was happy about the JFK reservations for the first 3 months, "We are on target", dixit Mr. Gustin.

- LF 59% (average june, july + aug.)
- LF +/-70% (july only)
- 50.000 tickets sold for his year.

It seems a quiet good result or am I wrong?

[CTBke]

I believe this is a very good start ... but I hope it keeps on growing ... or the same ..

[tolipanebas]

Tomorrow, a ribbon cutting event in the presence of the American Ambassador in Belgium, the CEO of Brussels Airport and SN's CEO Bernard Gustin will take place at the gate prior to the departure of the first flight.

I believe this is a very good start ... but I hope it keeps on growing ... or the same ..

SN is currently adding about 2,5 to 3% of LF per week, so bookings are doing quite well, especially as the yield is also said to be satisfactory.

New red-hot uniform:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150831346006644&set=a.10150830905736644.398073.148064996643&type=1&theater

[Air Key West]

Am I the only one who automatically associates red uniforms with Austrian Airlines ?
http://www.austrian.com/Info/AustrianGl ... g=de&cc=AT

[CTBke]

no not at all ... but it's just the colour of SN, the red ... just a coincidence ... Flybe also has some red in their uniform ...

[Bralo20]

Hmm, it seems that the flight is instantly codeshared by Lufthansa even though it's not even on sale through there website (checked various dates and the flight didn't show on LH)???

I've found 2 flightnumbers for the flight starting as of tomorrow:

- SN501
- LH5620

Later:

- UA9929 as of 01JUL2012

[Atlantis]

A source at the press conference this morning in B-House explained me that ceo mr. Gustin (SN) was happy about the JFK reservations for the first 3 months, "We are on target", dixit Mr. Gustin.

- LF 59% (average june, july + aug.)
- LF +/-70% (july only)
- 50.000 tickets sold for his year.

It seems a quiet good result or am I wrong?

If you see that within a timeschedule of 20 mins there are 5 flights ex-BRU to New York/Newark then it is not so bad I think.

An interesting question. Is there an other airport also with so many flights to New York in only a few mins?

[Bralo20]

Btw: Am I the only one who doesn't think that the new uniforms are "young, trendy and stylish"?

Stylish yes but young and trendy certainly not. Maybe rather plain boring old fashioned yet stylish maybe?

But maybe I don't know anything about it as a guy

[Bralo20]

An interesting question. Is there an other airport also with so many flights to New York in only a few mins?

LHR maybe since LHR-JFK is one of the busiest international routes in the world?

[airazurxtror]

Btw: Am I the only one who doesn't think that the new uniforms are "young, trendy and stylish"?
Stylish yes but young and trendy certainly not. Maybe rather plain boring old fashioned yet stylish maybe?

No, you are not the only one.
According to a member of my family who works in the "fashion" sector, only the foulard is good - the red uniform is out of trend, the dark stockings are ugly, the shoes also, the hat is ridiculous and the bag is terrible - the dark uniform being more acceptable. She asked : who is the culprit ?
And, when you show new uniforms to the press and televison, the least you can do is to hire professional models to wear them. Not amateurs ...

[shockcooling]

No, you are not the only one.
According to a member of my family who works in the "fashion" sector, only the foulard is good - the red uniform is out of trend, the dark stockings are ugly, the shoes also, the hat is ridiculous and the bag is terrible - the dark uniform being more acceptable. She asked : who is the culprit ?
And, when you show new uniforms to the press and televison, the least you can do is to hire professional models to wear them. Not amateurs ...

First of all, the point is to make other passengers aware of the New York flights, by using these so called ambassadors on random flights (only 50 CC will wear this uniform), the red uniform is new, all the rest stayed the same.
I find that a uniform should not look like the latest fashion trend, than you should change every half a year anyway, which is ridiculous, and the average passenger doesn't even care, because our staff imo aren't your average models...

Even at your world's favorite airline they don't use models, your last point is quite pointless, as they are staff themselves

[Kabila]

A source at the press conference this morning in B-House explained me that ceo mr. Gustin (SN) was happy about the JFK reservations for the first 3 months, "We are on target", dixit Mr. Gustin.

- LF 59% (average june, july + aug.)
- LF +/-70% (july only)
- 50.000 tickets sold for his year.

It seems a quiet good result or am I wrong?

I wouldn't call it a good result. If LF is 70% in July, it means LF is about 55% in June and August. I would rather call it dramatic, especially for June. A trans Atlantic wide body with a 55% LF is quiet worrying and can not be profitable. And if you know at what prices they have sold certain seats...

June-August are top leisure months for NY. What will they do in winter?

I remain convinced that JFK was a bad choice. You can never fill such a flight if you can't offer onward
connections beyond JFK. Feeding from Europe and Africa only + local O&D pax is not enough to turn a profit.

A non stop flight into IAH would have been a better decision, but of course you need guts to do so. But as a long term strategy it would probably have made more sense.

Sometimes in life you need to differentiate and not just copy what everyone else does. Sabena was once the first European carrier at ATL and later the same at CVG. It were their only ever successful flights to North America.

[Flanker]

I wouldn't call it a good result. If LF is 70% in July, it means LF is about 55% in June and August. I would rather call it dramatic, especially for June. A trans Atlantic wide body with a 55% LF is quiet worrying and can not be profitable. And if you know at what prices they have sold certain seats...

June-August are top leisure months for NY. What will they do in winter?

Thank you... I was keeping quiet and wondering how long it would take before someone brought the forum back to Earth. Your analysis is correct, this is what I found out as well.

This isn't what I would call particularily a good start at all. The general behavior for long-haul flights is to book at least 1 month in advance, but the median average is 2-4 months prior to travel. This means that the window is closing on August already and they only have 20.000 booking for the winter, a number unlikely to grow by much. How much of that aren't super-low-yield Africa connection.

What is most worrysome is that despite "all the capacity they need for Africa", they barely achieve 59% in the busiest summer month.
Sorry did I say worrysome? I meant to say I TOLD YOU SO!

I remain convinced that JFK was a bad choice. You can never fill such a flight if you can't offer onward connections beyond JFK. Feeding from Europe and Africa only + local O&D pax is not enough to turn a profit.

That's something I don't understand either. I wouldn't have launched unless I had signed a codeshare contract with a partner like B6, which was a precondition that I mentionned since the very beginning of the rumours.

Sometimes in life you need to differentiate and not just copy what everyone else does. Sabena was once the first European carrier at ATL and later the same at CVG. It were their only ever successful flights to North America.

Imagination isn't the strongest asset of SN. IAH would have been something more interesting given the UA hub there and the oil connections, but I would have opted for DEN, which is better positioned for connections to the East Coast, is barely operated by any European airline and also hosts one of the richest communities in the U.S. Did I mention the huge UA hub there?

[tolipanebas]

If LF is 70% in July, it means LF is about 55% in June and August. I would rather call it dramatic, especially for June.

Somebody got wrongly quoted or didn't listen well, because you seem to have mixed up the months...

It's 70% average LF in JUNE, 60% in JULY and 50% in AUG (meaning 60% on average over the 3 month forward looking period) with SN adding about 2,5 to 3% of LF to each period every week as the date of departure nears because pax to/from AFI are notoriously late booking, contrary to 'normal' passengers...


A background newsarticle on the launch:
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/economie/2.4820/1.1315737