2015 Ostend-Bruges airport (OST/EBOS) latest news

[sn26567]

Soon an Ibis hotel next to the airport

At the border between the cities of Middelkerke and Ostend, in the Ostend Avenue, Ibis will soon build an airport hotel. The blueprint exists since several years but now it seems to become very serious. The 100-room hotel is mainly intended for the users of the airport. The building permit should be requested soon to start the construction in early 2016.

[FLYAIR10]

Soon an Ibis hotel next to the airport

At the border between the cities of Middelkerke and Ostend, in the Ostend Avenue, Ibis will soon build an airport hotel. The blueprint exists since several years but now it seems to become very serious. The 100-room hotel is mainly intended for the users of the airport. The building permit should be requested soon to start the construction in early 2016.

I guess this is related to the below.See link.

http://www.ibairport.be/

Grtz

[Inquirer]

To complete the roundup of Belgian airports, the VRT is reporting the airport of Ostend saw:
253,044 passengers last year (+2,2 points)
24 885 ton cargo (-46,5 points)

The gain in passengers is due to Jetair's increased holiday offer, whereas the loss in cargo volume entirely due to the move of ANA cargo to Liège.

Airport operator EGIS hopes to grow passenger numbers in 2015 thanks to further new routes (they talk about +30%) and also hints at a new route to the UK aimed at British tourists visiting Brugge!?
Anybody an idea? Maybe another attempt of Ryanair at this coastal airport?

More on: http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/regio ... /1.2200836

[RoMax]

They say they are talking with multiple 'British' airlines (maybe that also includes FR though). So I expect easyJet and FR and for the rest probably more regional airlines.

They are also talking with some cargo airlines about possible routes and a company that's specialised in dismantling aircraft about a local division in OST (Egis probably got the idea from e.g. the DC-8's that were scrapped in OST :p ).

[Inquirer]

They say they are talking with multiple 'British' airlines (maybe that also includes FR though). So I expect easyJet and FR and for the rest probably more regional airlines.

I doubt it's easyjet they hint at: ostend really isn't in their profile.
if not Ryanair, then i'd bet on probably a regional British Airline: say flybe or the one ending the route from southend to Antwerp? Maybe they could reconsider Ostend for the route? it used to be flown for many years long time ago, I remember flying on it as a kid even!
Good memories of aviation long gone: the Vickers Viscount!

[RoMax]

I doubt it's easyjet they hint at: ostend really isn't in their profile.

Well I'm not saying that I see EZY flying to OST, but I doubt that Egis wouldn't even try. They have been trying to attract easyJet to OST for a long time, I'm sure Egis will try it again. For the rest (except FR) probably carriers like Flybe (opd by Stobart Air maybe), Eastern Airways or even BMI Regional and BA Cityflyer (the last one only if there are enough high yield leisure pax from London as they serve some destinations from LCY that fit that profile).

But actually I doubt they will succeed in attracting an airline for the long term for one or more British routes, even though it has the potential to be a big market.

[regi]

Just a completely unbased idea:
we always think about connecting Ostend with the UK.
But there might be some interest in developing eastbound flights to serve the German customers who have a seaside residence e.g. at De Haan.
As example I take Sylt Westerland airport.
I do know personally 3 German businessmen / dentist who have a villa or condo at De Haan. It takes them at least 5 hours in Friday evening coast bound traffic to get here.
They try to get sometimes an appointment on route. But mostly they just come for a weekend. And leave their car resting for 2-3 days.
I am quite sure that this niche group would be interested in a 40-60 minute flight from Frankfurt, Berlin, Hannover, Hamburg, Dortmund, D'dorf, Munich, Vienna, Geneva and Zurich.
What I do not know is how much it costs to perform a market study for this routing.

[RoMax]

I don't know about past market research, but it's certainly in Egis' agenda to do extensive market research (or hire a company to do that). It's in their best interest to know exactly which group is the most important one to target (and currently that's still the UK, but probably they target much more markets that they are not talking about). Now that both ANR and OST are being run by a private, commercial airport operator, things should be done in a better way compared to the past, but yeah we'll see if it actually turns out well.

[sn26567]

I don't know about past market research, but it's certainly in Egis' agenda to do extensive market research (or hire a company to do that). It's in their best interest to know exactly which group is the most important one to target (and currently that's still the UK, but probably they target much more markets that they are not talking about). Now that both ANR and OST are being run by a private, commercial airport operator, things should be done in a better way compared to the past, but yeah we'll see if it actually turns out well.

The Belgian branch of Egis (OST and ANR) is run by Marcel Buelens, who has extensive experience of running an airport since he was CEO of CRL and successfully expanded the operations there. His experience should certainly help at OST and ANR.

[FLYAIR10]

Jetair is seeing an increase of 38,5 % in the number of bookings out of Ostend-Bruges airport.(as compared to same period last year).
Bookings for the new Barcelona connection are doing well, 'as expected'.
Good news for the airport(and JAF).
Cargo traffic prospects are less clear at the moment ,but EGIS ,together with aviapartner, is working on it and promoting this activity aswell.
Also an new cooperation with Skytanking is imminent.
Other activities being explored are in the field of General aviation and aircraft dismantling and scrapping.

Source: http://www.hln.be/regio/nieuws-uit-oost ... -a2174593/

[tangolima]

Hello

Just found this (in Dutch)
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland ... ibie.dhtml

Greetings,

[Passenger]

Just found this (in Dutch):
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland ... ibie.dhtml

"...Anonymous sources in Libya claim that the twice-weekly cargo flight out of Ostend sometimes transports illegal weapons into Libya. It's not sure if the weapons (note: if the story is true) origin from Belgium, because the 747 makes a stopover at the U.A.E., known as a weapon supplier..."

[liege-bierset]

Hello

Just found this (in Dutch)
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland ... ibie.dhtml

Greetings,

Same in French.
http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1502/Belgiqu ... ibye.dhtml

But is it really new ???

[Passenger]

Egis, on behalf of Ostend Airport, strongly denies illegal weapon transport. Egis CEO Marcel Buelens: "there's even not an official complaint about this story".

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20150415_01631133

[AC.be]

Not hard to pinpoint these 'anonymous' sources. Around here they are known as WILOO and they have been trying to close the airport for decade ...

Easy to make accusations without proof or even file an official complaint. Of course the Belgian press will publish this, half their articles are pure sensationalism.

[regi]

by the way:
why would it be wrong to use Ostend airport to transport weapons?
Zeebrugge has been used as the major ammunition transit point between USA and Europe.
So why not the nearest airport?

I call this a non issue.

[LJ]

by the way:
why would it be wrong to use Ostend airport to transport weapons?
Zeebrugge has been used as the major ammunition transit point between USA and Europe.
So why not the nearest airport?

I call this a non issue.

It's about illegal arms trade not the legal arms trade.

But is it really new ???

No, OST has been named in combination with companies which alledgedly are into the illegal arms trade on the past. However, no proof has been found. Though, I think we can agree that some operators have owners which are controversial. The article in The loadstar is much better than the HLN article as it provides more insight in one operator and is more balanced. The headline in the HLN article is somewhat misleading, despite the article clearly states that the illegal arms could also been coming from the UAE. It seems that it OST still has trouble with its image (that's proabbly why the OST management wants to take legal action)

http://theloadstar.co.uk/ostend-airport ... g-flights/

[FLYAIR10]

And a more positive note for Ostend airport;

The inaugural flight to Barcelona on 17/4 seems to have been a succes.
Full PAX load, good coverage by local press , press conference in Barcelona and lots of optimism expressed by all stakeholders involved. Well done I should say.
Funny to see Spanish buses making publicity for Belgian cities.
Flemish tourist offices are spending quite some money in promoting the 'Flemish art cities' in Catalunia.
(EUR 180.000 as per below link to a Focus-TV newsreel)
Hopefully this money is well spent and also JAF and OST/ANR airports will see the fruits of this investment soon.
Grtz.

http://www.focus-wtv.be/nieuws/eerste-v ... t-oostende

[3toons]

I'm glad that the inaugural flight to Barcelona was full and I hope it continues to be very successful for both Ostend Airport and Flanders. I hope that in the near future there will be a route from Scotland or the UK to Ostend.

[crew1990]

I wonder what Brussels Airlines is waiting to start flying from the regio-airport. There is a market there as well.