4th A330 for SNBA very soon

RCV · Post by **RCV** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:03

Don't know if this was already posted, nice news for me!:

SN Brussels Airlines (SN/Brussels) will add a fourth ex-Air Luxor (LK/Lisbon) A330-300 in 2006. It will launch a twice weekly seasonal ARJ-100 service from Brussels to Dubrovnik on May 1.

Source: CH-aviation

MVG

RCV

mafrick · Post by **mafrick** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:09

Hey,

How did you hear about this? When wil the A330 arrive and what do you mean with seasonal ARJ-100 service from Brussels to Dubrovnik?

greets

liebensd · Post by **liebensd** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:23

SN Brussels Airlines (SN/Brussels) will add a fourth ex-Air Luxor (LK/Lisbon) A330-300 in 2006. It will launch a twice weekly seasonal ARJ-100 service from Brussels to Dubrovnik on May 1.

that will probably be:
CS-TMT A330-321 AIR LUXOR ex: F-WWKP, 9M-MKZ, OO-SFX (SABENA)

Greetz,

Dave

mafrick · Post by **mafrick** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:25

When is the arrival of the A330 planned?

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:28

Great news. It'll be so nice to see good old OO-SFX back in BRU

But will OO-SFX be only operated while the other A330's get their refurbishments or is it a 4th one definitely ?

Chris

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:30

Travel Magazine, Belgium's leading travel & airline news source, today also confirms the 4th A330 is on his way:

SN Brussels Airlines voert afrondende gesprekken over de aanschaf van een vierde lange afstandsvliegtuig. De maatschappij vliegt haar long haul-netwerk momenteel met drie Airbus A330-300's. Het vierde toestel zou van het zelfde type zijn. SN Brussels Airlines heeft het toestel nodig om de capaciteit op haar Afrikaanse bestemmingen te vergroten. Bovendien worden in 2006 het interieur en de cabine van de huidige toestellen verfraaid. Het moderniseringsproces maakt dat telkens één vliegtuig een tijdlang niet inzetbaar is. (1-12-2005)

(short translation: SNBA is in final talks about a 4th A330-300. It will be used also for Africa. During 2006, interior of all other planes will be renewed, which will make one plane always out of order)

liebensd · Post by **liebensd** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:33

I don't know, because A330 SN 096 is also on the wet-lease market:

A330-300 096 PW4168 Wet-lease Luzair info@luzair.com
Source: http://www.speednews.com/listings/jetindex.html

Greetz,

Dave

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 01 Dec 2005, 16:54

It's indeed good news about this fourth aircraft. But I think the situation will stay like now. If one of the current A330 will go for a refurbishment it's the fourth who will fill the gap. So, I think they will use the fourth aircraft, or better, the four aircrafts together when the current three are clear, then they could use a higher capacity or expand on some African destinations.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 01 Dec 2005, 17:43

mafrick wrote:Hey,

How did you hear about this? When wil the A330 arrive and what do you mean with seasonal ARJ-100 service from Brussels to Dubrovnik?

greets

Like RCV was writing, he get it from CH-Aviation. But there were two things writing:

the fourth A300-300 will arrive in 2006.

SNBA will start from 1 May a twice weekly service to Dubrovnik.
It's just adding a seasonal flight. Nothing special.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 01 Dec 2005, 17:46

I'm really looking forward to see an A333 in SNBA's milky way colors!

Vinnie-Winnie · Post by **Vinnie-Winnie** » 01 Dec 2005, 18:49

About the refurbishment of one of the 3 A330-300 Snba has in its fleet: Wht kind of refurbishment will it be? Small one or Big one? Ie Will PTV be installed?

lumumba · Post by **lumumba** » 01 Dec 2005, 20:46

Hi vinnie winnie.
There will be no TV screen in Y class a talked with some crew member and they say that there to afraid for tecnical problem with those material.
And for Africa they prefer no to take those risks.
But they gone replace everything but put more Y seats.
Regards
pat

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 01 Dec 2005, 21:38

The plan is to reduce the size of the business class cabin as well as the number of seats in it, since C class is never fully booked and SN often has to upgrade Y class pax as the economy class is often packed to max capacity.

The space which will become available will be used to enlarge the Y cabin and put more seats in, and the new (fewer) C class seats would be much larger and with more pitch than the present ones.

That's about the plan in a nutshell.

Vinnie-Winnie · Post by **Vinnie-Winnie** » 01 Dec 2005, 23:12

Thanks pat!

Oh well if tolipanebas info is correct I find i rather sad since yields will obviously go down!

About Ptv sad pax will definately lose out! And also is ptv not becoming the rule in other airlines long haul fleet?

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 01 Dec 2005, 23:18

why should yield go down???

Better have 2 filled Y class seats than 1 filled C class seat with an upgraded Y class passenger, don't you think???

lumumba · Post by **lumumba** » 01 Dec 2005, 23:44

Hi Vinnie-winnie.
Tolinepebas is right don't forget that a ticket to Africa can cost 1000 euro. The difference is not so big than in Europe. For example a cheap ticket can cost 200 euro to Madrid and Business 600 euro. But it's not a big difference in seat or even in service but on long haul a Business seat can take 2.5 eco seats. Regards
Pat

Post by **luchtzak** » 02 Dec 2005, 12:46

I believe it's a little early to talk about a 4th Airbus A330. I have heard rumours in that direction but nothing official. Besides the news has been removed on www.ch-aviation.ch

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 02 Dec 2005, 13:06

I don't think one can call this early rumours, in fact these are old rumours (and more than just rumours in fact).

SN just can't make up its mind that's where the problem is! You know just as well as I Bart that the 4th A330 was OFFICIALLY announced through internal communication channels a few months ago, but that SNV (as the new integrated group of SN and VEX calls itself nowadays; talking about a hint as to what kind of 'loose collaboration' they want) has brutally stopped that expansion project and first wants to start an in depth evaluation of the need for a 4th long haul plane all over again....
It only took SN 9 months to come to the conclusion that a 4th plane would indeed pay off, only to start doubting this conclusion 3 weeks later when the CEO had quit...

Oh well, we all know we're not working in the most ambitious airline in Europe, so a short term lease of an Air Luxor plane to replace the 3 current A330s when they undergo maintenance is already a step forward when compared to last year, remember???

EBAW_flyer · Post by **EBAW_flyer** » 02 Dec 2005, 16:59

There are now 4-5 rows in a separate business-class cabin that isn't used for the moment (not enough C-class pax and otherwise they would have to have an extra flight attendant in that cabin) so they are replacing those seats and making it an eco cabin.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 02 Dec 2005, 17:37

I have news that will stop the rumours:

SNBA signed a contract to lease a B767 to fill the gap when the A330 will get there refurbishments. They had not the intention to buy or lease a fourth A330.

The lease of the B767 is for a period of only 3 months.

This is official confirmed by SNBA.

It also means that there will be no expand of long haul aircrafts in 2006.

Source: Travel Magazine newsletter