Brussels Airlines' third US destination

[sn26567]

According to Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (today, p.12), Brussels Airlines is looking for a third US-connection. Boston is named. But the West Coast remains a possibility.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Waw, in new topic Andre,..SN third transatlantic on his way!
Hope for BOS,..

CXB

[RoMax]

Both BOS and SFO would be very nice. But BOS is probably easier with SN's limited long haul aircraft resources.

[Atlantis]

if they are looking for a third US destination, then we can place this in a time schedule for in 1 year or something?

[convair]

Good news for White, EuroAtlantic, HiFly, Blue Panorama and possibly a few other leasing companies!

[blanik]

Having had so much technical problems last few weeks makes me think if we can "uberhaupt" keep ETOPS.
We need lufthansa's help to grow.

[ExSabena]

Yes ... I'm completely agree ... When a see how many flights are cancelled for the moment I hope for them they will be more organized with their fleet. Just hear that they planned 18 rotations with Euro Atlantic for the entire year and they are at 19 rotations and we are not yet at half 2013. Good luck !

[Flanker2]

I don't think that SN will ever listen to me (they haven't until now) but DEN or IAH would seem viable and can be done with a daily schedule, without requiring more than 1 aircraft.
BOS is already saturated and it's not like New York where you can always find a taker for a cheap ticket. Boston Scientific in Diegem will be very happy, I guess, but they will not enthusiastic enough to fill the aircraft everyday, if they at all fill any seats at all.
SFO, I have to ask, why? Does Gustin have a villa there or some friends who would like to fly there direct from BRU? Please... for such missions you can hire Forrest's old Gulfstream, no need to waste an A332.

IAD was quite a surprise for me given that UA already flies there, if we keep the same spirit in mind, an evening flight to ORD could be next on SN's list. But it's all to be seen.

My question: Is it sustainable to grow so fast in the U.S.?
The principal "aim" or excuse was to invest in feeding for the African flights, but how does it work exactly with an evening flight to IAD? Is this excuse still valid when you have 3 aircraft flying the U.S. versus 5 to Africa?


JFK is at 80% LF, but at very low yields.
I wasn't too happy about JFK, but I wasn't too concerned either, because you still have a low yield O&D and connecting demand to fill the seats. Whether SN makes any money is doubtful but who knows, if they can find a niche with their feeding. They won't make much money, that's for sure.

DEN is a bit of a crazy idea. To me, DEN is like Kinshasa in the U.S. No competition, great feeding on both sides of the pond, cargo, small demand but lucrative.

But forget DEN why not Hong Kong? A lot of Belgian companies do business in/with Hong Kong, air cargo from Hong Kong is already a great asset and there is a major connection between Hong Kong and Africa, with regards to Africa-bound merchandise.

[Passenger]

Having had so much technical problems last few weeks makes me think if we can "uberhaupt" keep ETOPS.
We need lufthansa's help to grow.

It looks like flanker has a new profile...

[bruteboeing]

Having had so much technical problems last few weeks makes me think if we can "uberhaupt" keep ETOPS.
We need lufthansa's help to grow.

It looks like flanker has a new profile...

because someone posts a true fact ?

[cnc]

flanker, about JFK... you always seem to forget about atlantic++
i like the idea of DEN or IAH

[airDD]

Well, I guess it needs to be an United hub... so hubs with no service to BRU are LAX, SFO, DEN & IAH...

If I had to guess, I would pick SFO 3 flights a week.... United used to have a "direct" from SFO to BRU for years (with a stopover in IAD) for years...

[RoMax]

United used to have a "direct" from SFO to BRU for years (with a stopover in IAD) for years...

I wouldn't call that a "direct" or even a "one-stop" flight...it was just the flight number that continued on to SFO, but it still operated like two different flights (so for the passengers a normal transfer).

[sn26567]

PeopleExpress used to have a weekly SFO-BRU by 747 for a few months. With single tickets at $49... And Citybird flew to nearby Oakland, also weekly if I remember well.

[airDD]

United used to have a "direct" from SFO to BRU for years (with a stopover in IAD) for years...

I wouldn't call that a "direct" or even a "one-stop" flight...it was just the flight number that continued on to SFO, but it still operated like two different flights (so for the passengers a normal transfer).

The reason was that this flight would show up on the GDS as a direct flight, and appearing above connecting flights. This is only done when there is signific O/D traffic between the airports.

[RoMax]

The reason was that this flight would show up on the GDS as a direct flight, and appearing above connecting flights. This is only done when there is signific O/D traffic between the airports.

Oh yes that's true of course, never denied there's a significant market (SFO, LAX and MIA are huge non served markets out of BRU, but SFO is the one with the highest yields, while LAX and MIA may be bigger in terms of amount of passengers). But I didn't knew that was the reason you mentioned it, I just responded to the fact that from a passengers standpoint it didn't really make a difference.

Btw, about BOS. Flanker, I agree the market is rather saturated compared to the Sabena times. But the Belgium-Boston market is so much bigger than Boston Scientific in Diegem... The whole Belgian pharmaceutical and biotechnic R&D sector (to name something) is huge and FRA, AMS, LHR and CDG are all running away with that huge business market. To name one company, Janssen Pharmaceutica is screaming for non-stop flights between Belgium and Boston and there are many, many more. It's not easy to get that market back from the big surrounding hubs, but not impossible if SN shows themself to be smart enough in their marketing towards the companies that matter.
But I tend to agree that IAH and even DEN could be good possibilities as well. IAH probably more than DEN, because I have the feeling SN is too small to make DEN a real success, IAH can benefit from a bigger OD market.

[Flanker2]

You raise a fair point about BOS and its medical links with major Belgian pharmaceutical companies. Some technology companies also work with MIT for research. I think that BOS has a market, but I think that it's too small for daily A330 service. Maybe as a 3 weekly evening service on Monday (or Sunday), Wednesday, Friday?

I think that a small fleet of B757's could change things for SN, both in BOS and Africa.

[RoMax]

You raise a fair point about BOS and its medical links with major Belgian pharmaceutical companies. Some technology companies also work with MIT for research. I think that BOS has a market, but I think that it's too small for daily A330 service. Maybe as a 3 weekly evening service on Monday (or Sunday), Wednesday, Friday?

IF they can secure some nice business contracts, I believe 5 weekly A332 is possible, not daily though, especially in the winter that would be too much.
If that should be an evening flight or not...I tend to say yes, but that's probably because I prefer evening flights for business (as in my opinion the day you arrive in the US is rather useless anyway and you can still use half a day in Belgium before departing to the airport). And in my opinion SN's European network would seriously benefit from a long haul 'wave' in the early evening (IAD is already a good start, but far from a wave and far from making a critical difference for the EU network). But I lack the knowledge about the BOS-Africa market, because an evening flight would lack the AFI connections (no problem in the case of IAD or NYC as there are morning flights to serve that need).

I think that a small fleet of B757's could change things for SN, both in BOS and Africa.

If it would fit in their fleet, I would say OK. But in their current fleet, it's not going to be the holy grale I think. Tough I'm curiously looking forward to Aer Lingus which will lease some 757's for their trans-Atlantic network (leased from Air Contractors, their pilots and maintenance I believe, but cabin crew of EI).

[cnc]

don't forget we live in the age of video conference.

[BrightCedars]

Maybe they should get hold of those 2 white A340's currently parked at BRU

More seriously, is there really a long haul fleet availability problem at present? This wouldn't sound serious from any operator.

The A330-200 can do SFO in combo with a shorter flight, especially if it's not everyday, which isn't going to be the case. I guess we can admire the possibility of a 3-weekly service to begin with. BOS is also a nice option to add on the menu, but you need increased frequency so you'd tie about as much aircraft anyway, while commanding lower ticket values. Basically both destinations make sense so it's also a matter of which comes first, I'm sure we'll hear about the fourth destination about a year later!