BRU - Long haul & intercontinental in the medium-long term

[Boeing767copilot]

Looking ahead, Léon Verhallen explains that Brussels Airport would like to continue its successful Asia growth strategy of the last few years.

“After Beijing, Bangkok, Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Hong Kong, we still see Delhi, Singapore, Seoul, Taipeh, Manilla and Vietnam as short- and mid-term targets. In North America we still search for a flight to the West Coast, such as San Francisco, while also Boston and Houston offer good opportunities.

“In Latin America it is Sao Paulo and Bogota, and in Africa Johannesburg and Lagos. The latter would complement the already unique network that we offer to sub-Sahara Africa.”

Verhallen stresses that Brussels is now firmly focussed on the future. He concludes: “From now on, we want to look forward again, and our recently published ‘Brussels Airport Vision 2040‘ sets the path to the development of Brussels Airport to 40 million passengers in 2040.”

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... b-20171117

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

I read the full story; interesting. And amazingly ambitious ... Especially the statement that some new destinations to Asia are envisaged in the "short term". Don't know what that means, but could be already 2018/2019 (?)

Another thing that strikes me is that this does not take into account 'plans' from VLM Airlines and/or Air Belgium, unless the latter is looking into some of these Asian destinations mentioned and not to China anymore (with the current competition of Hainan and Cathay).

On flightlevel I also read the following (sorry only in Dutch): "De maatschappij [SN] wil op langere termijn meer directe vluchten naar Afrika aanbieden en de frequentie op enkele bestemmingen verder verhogen. Volgens Alban Francois [VP Global Cargo for Brussels Airlines] wordt er ook gekenen naar het openen van nieuwe routes."

Short translation: SN wants to have more direct flights in the future (now many triangle flights), increase frequencies to some destinations and add new destinations in Africa ... Those new destinations might be Lagos and Johannesburg (who else could do that), but in the past SN spoke also about Libreville, Bangui; they flew to Bamako until the country became too insecure ...

Danny

[crew1990]

I guess it will look like that:

Asia

Delhi: Brussels Airlines
Singapore: Singapore Airlines
Seoul: Asiana Airlines
Taipeh: Eva Air
Manilla: Philippines Airlines
Hanoï: Vietnam Airlines

North America

San Francisco: Brussels Airlines/United Airlines
Los Angeles: Brussels Airlines/United Airlines
Boston: Brussels Airlines
Houston: United Airlines

Latin America

Bogota: Avianca
Sao Paulo: Latam

Africa

Lagos: Brussels Airlines
Johannesburg: Brussels Airlines/South African Airlines

[lucas]

I guess it will look like that:

Asia

Delhi: Brussels Airlines
Singapore: Singapore Airlines
Seoul: Asiana Airlines
Taipeh: Eva Air
Manilla: Philippines Airlines
Hanoï: Vietnam Airlines

North America

San Francisco: Brussels Airlines/United Airlines
Los Angeles: Brussels Airlines/United Airlines
Boston: Brussels Airlines
Houston: United Airlines

Latin America

Bogota: Avianca
Sao Paulo: Latam

Africa

Lagos: Brussels Airlines
Johannesburg: Brussels Airlines/South African Airlines

I really hope this might become the truth, but i don't think it will be like that in the first coming years.
For a lot of those routes, there is massive competition from AMS, CDG, FRA and LHR.
And for Johannesburg, I se Brussels Airlines serving these route, or maybe Air Belgium, if they will ever receive their AOC. But not South African Airlines. They are almost bankrupt. But as they work very close together now with Eurowings, LH may give a chance to SN when they are fully integrated in the German airline.

But for the possible destinations in Latin America, I am hopefull, as they are already mentioned in a topic on this site.

[TLspotting]

IAH / Houston could be with AA,because they have a huge base there

[AIRMARSHAL]

IAH / Houston could be with AA,because they have a huge base there

DFW is AA's hub in Texas, not IAH, or did you mean UA?

[TLspotting]

I was wrong, my mistake !

[JOVAN]

HUBS UA

Chicago
Denver
Guam
Houston
Los Angeles
San Fransisco
Washington
Tokyo

[sn26567]

Before the merger with United, IAH (Houston) was the largest hub of Continental.

[Bralo20]

HUBS UA

Chicago
Denver
Guam
Houston
Los Angeles
San Fransisco
Washington
Tokyo

You have forgotten Newark (originally a PMCO hub and currently UA's 3th largest hub)

[travellover]

Africa :
Back in the future to historical destination Nairobi to join forces with LH and LX ?
More room for SN* in NBO ?

SN (brussels airlines or even sabena name) is missing in 2017 in Nairobi among drivers, hotels, business, tourism offices, travellers, airport, etc.

NBO Star Alliance group 10 flights a week in 2017 :
LH* via FRA :
departure from : -2-4567
arrival to : 1-3-567
LX* via ZHR :
departure from : 1-3-567
arrival to : 12-4-67

[sn26567]

Some food for thought: this article in anna.aero

Brussels-Sao Paulo is “Skyscanner Unserved Route of the Week” with over 220,000 searches; a tempter for TAM Airlines??



Could one of these two players – Belgium’s Eden Hazard or Brazil’s Neymar Jr. – become the hero of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final which will be at 16:00 on Sunday 15 July next year at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium? One thing is for certain, a non-stop route between Brussels and Sao Paulo will definitely help the South American country’s fans get to Europe (before continuing onto Russia), along with the 220,000 travellers that also searched for flights between the two cities.



anna.aero thinks TAM Airlines or Azul Airlines should add this route

With over 220,000 searches in the last 12 months, a potential city pair from Brussels to Sao Paulo has been identified as this week’s “Skyscanner-anna.aero Unserved Route of Week” – a powerful analysis based on aspirational data captured from the Skyscanner.net flight comparison site used by +60 million unique visitors per month. “Brazil is currently the largest unserved market [on a country basis] from Brussels,” says Geert Van Dessel, Senior Manager Aviation Development, Brussels Airport. “Sao Paulo [obviously] is the largest O&D in Brazil from Brussels.”

Skyscanner demand on this week’s unserved route shows a marginal preference towards the Sao Paulo end of the city pair, with a 53/47 split, so on thi, basis we looked at potential carriers at the Brazilian origin first. Operations from Sao Paulo’s international airports at Guarulhos and Viracopos are the only ones to have been considered for this analysis, as the city’s Congonhas Airport is currently 100% domestic. According to OAG schedules for the week commencing 4 December, the largest carrier at Guarulhos is TAM Airlines (32% share of weekly seats). The airline’s 45-destination non-stop route network from the Brazilian city presently consists of five European destinations – namely to Barcelona, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Milan Malpensa and Paris CDG (all served daily). The oneworld carrier clearly has European expansion on its radar having announced plans in October to start a three times weekly Rome Fiumicino service next March according to anna.aero’s New Route Database, so it would seem that a potential route to the Belgian capital would not entirely be out of the question for LATAM.

Guarulhos’ second-biggest carrier GOL (26% share of weekly capacity) offers nearly 125,000 one-way weekly seats across a 41-destination non-stop network. However, unlike its domestic competitor TAM, none of its current 117-aircraft-strong fleet are long-haul capable, as they are all 737s (26 -700s and 91 -800s), according to ch-aviation’s fleet database. The airport’s third and fourth largest capacity providers – Avianca Brasil (14%) and Azul Airlines (4.7%) – do both have A330-200s, however only the latter uses them on routes outside of the US market, with a six times weekly service from Viracopos – where it is the #1 carrier in terms of weekly seats, with a 95% share – to Lisbon. On this basis, it is perhaps Azul, from its main base in Sao Paulo at Viracopos, which should be considering Brussels as its second route into Europe for S18. “There is strong growth in the number of Brazilian tourists visiting Belgium. We are planning further investment in this market together with our tourism boards,” informs Van Dessel.

Contemplating the Brussels end of the route, the airport’s #1 capacity provider of its existing 58 serving airlines is the flag carrier Brussels Airlines, which offers 39% of weekly seats. The airline, which provides an increasingly broad geographical spread to its network, including numerous African, Asian and North American routes, is yet to serve any destinations in the Caribbean, Central America or indeed Upper or Lower South America. However, there can be few opportunities in the region with as much potential as a service to Sao Paulo, so now armed with this Skyscanner data, the sector could well represent Brussels Airlines’ first foray into South America from its growing Brussels hub. “Demand on the route has a high business component, with many corporate links between Belgium and Brazil, such as beer brewing giant AB InBev [which is a merger of a Belgian and Brazilian brewer]. Think Stella, Leffe, Corona, Brahma, Beck’s, Budweiser, etc.” suggests Van Dessel.

Lisbon, Frankfurt command transfer market

When looking at the previous year of search data, the busiest month for potential traffic flows (for both directions on the route combined) is May 2017, with nearly 31,000 searches, over 20,000 higher than the lowest monthly figure, which was recorded in December 2016 (11,000 searches). The seasonality profile of this search data is significantly more extreme than last week’s Unserved Route of the Week (Melbourne-Phnom Penh), with the low-month traffic representing just 35% of the highest month. According to OAG Traffic Analyser, because there is no direct service, the top three connecting options chosen by those passengers who did book travel between Brussels and Sao Paulo in the last 12 months (year ending September 2017) indicates that the majority of connecting travellers used Lisbon (22%), Frankfurt (21%) and London Heathrow (13%). In total 40 different airports were used by travellers as a transfer point between the two cities since last October. "There is a large community of Brazilians in Belgium [in Brussels, specifically]. Recent data from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs puts the number at 48,000,” explains Van Dessel.

Indeed, an O&D that is not served by a non-stop flight will typically display a low purchase rate and low traffic. In this instance, Skyscanner’s Travel Insight indicates a monthly average of 5.6% for the Brussels to Sao Paulo route (see graph below). Therefore, if there was a Brussels to Sao Paulo route, and if bookings performed in line with the “Skyscanner market average” for direct services at both airports (6.0%), the airline operating this route could immediately expect an improved purchase rate of 7.1%, without any increased marketing spend. However, with over 220,000 annual searches in the last year, a four or five times weekly service should be immediately viable for the airline choosing to start this potential city pair. “Brussels is [one of] the largest unserved European routes from Sao Paulo. We have been working together with our colleagues from Guarulhos Airport to develop this route,” concludes Van Dessel.



Source: Skyscanner and http://www.anna.aero/2017/12/05/brussel ... -searches/

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

Seems like Indigo has Brussels also on its radar ... Could be in 2019, not this year.

Source:
http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopi ... ca7ca9398a
where they refer to:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 798597.cms

In a letter dated January 25, the airline has asked for approval to start flights to Frankfurt, Paris and Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK starting October 2018 and to Brussels, Rome, Milan and Zurich in 2019.

Cheers

[travellover]

Hi all,

Seems like Indigo has Brussels also on its radar ... Could be in 2019, not this year.

Source:
http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopi ... ca7ca9398a
where they refer to:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 798597.cms

In a letter dated January 25, the airline has asked for approval to start flights to Frankfurt, Paris and Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK starting October 2018 and to Brussels, Rome, Milan and Zurich in 2019.

Cheers

Competition for AI.

http://livefromalounge.boardingarea.com ... =crosspost

"The airline plans a dense economy seating with a few premium seats (with more leg space) along with unbundled products like meal, priority boarding and seat selection for economy passengers. With A330-200, Level- IAG group’s low cost airline provides 314 seats and 21 premium economy seats and has a six level fare structure. It will fly to secondary airports to take advantage of low airport charge. For instance, in London it will fly to Gatwick airport instead of Heathrow and to Orly airport in Paris instead of the Charles-De-Gaulle Airport."

As IndiGo is a real low cost airline, will the impact on SN be limited on BOM (DEL ?) if they realize their plan to come at BRU in 2019?
"The Airbus A330-200 accommodates 272 passengers in a two-class configuration with 22 flat bed seats in Business Class and 250 standard seats in Economy Class. This aircraft is used on long-haul flights to East Africa, India and the U.S. (New York, Washington)."

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Bruss ... 30_200.php

[Atlantis]

With JetBlue as a new client for the new A321XLR it would be good if they would BRU also on their map.
LHR and AMS are high on their list. LHR I can understand but with AMS with the limited slots and the high competition already it is more difficult to understand.
BRU has still the space for a late afternoon or evening flight and they could codeshare also with SN.

It is too quiet for the moment regarding new carriers and destinations for BRU. If they want to reach the target of 40 million pax by 2040, than the new carriers had to start ops already bcs in aviation you never know what tomorrow will be

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

I read the article about JetBlue's A321XLR and was thinking immediately to BOS to be honest.

[Atlantis]

Yeah, and not only regarding JetBlue, but also AA ordered the A321XLR. They also could start up ops again bcs B757 was too big for them of the PHI route

[BrightCedars]

Looking at Singapore I think Scoot could be a better pitch for SQ to undercut the ME3. They already fly to ATH & BER and BRU would be a good location in between the transfer hubs where many SQ and other flights link those places with SIN e.g. KL@AMS, AF@CDG, LH@FRA and BA@LON.

I still see the A321XLR has a good aircraft for many routes across the Atlantic and to build up destinations and frequencies in Africa.

[Conti764]

Looking at Singapore I think Scoot could be a better pitch for SQ to undercut the ME3. They already fly to ATH & BER and BRU would be a good location in between the transfer hubs where many SQ and other flights link those places with SIN e.g. KL@AMS, AF@CDG, LH@FRA and BA@LON.

BRU has another customer profile then BER or ATH which are more touristic destinations.

[TLspotting]

JetBlue plans to launch transatlantic services next year, probably Q3 2021, with London first from JFK and Boston. Might be interesting for the years to come. Of course we already knew the plans but the launch term has been confirmed by JetBlue CEO.

Av24 has already talked about that (and even in W20-21 BRU topic), but CAA should break Beeline monopoly on FIH-BRU soon...

A while ago, I also talked about Air Senegal with its new A330neo...