EU to give green light to LH/SN soon!

[Boeing747-nurse]

JFK, because there won't be a US Star Alliance partner for this link ( AA = Oneworld, and Delta = Skyteam ).

I think in the near future also:

-ORD ( LH flies, I think, 4 times a day to ORD out of Frankfurt and 1 time out of Munich );it's a very important Star Alliance hub in the USA.

-BOS

-IAD

In Canada; YUL

[brussels airlines]

Don't forget that Continental Airlines is a future-Star member and is offering a daily flight between Brussels and New York Newark.

US Airways (Philadelphia) & United Airlines (Washington) are already flying between Brussels and USA, so possibly those airlines will increase their frequencies/destinations out of Brussels.

And last but not least, for the moment Brussels Airlines and Jet Airways can continue their codeshares, so SN could also start to codeshare to 9W destinations New York JFK and Newark.

[sdbelgium]

US Airways (Philadelphia)

Which will be suspended from NOV 'till FEB (viewtopic.php?p=218483#p218483)

[tolipanebas]

The go-ahead from the EU means SN and LH can now move beyond the simple code share agreement they have in place already and will thus reshuffle the entire time table between Belgium, Germany and Italy in the coming weeks already. Expect them to shift and drop several overlapping frequencies to TXL, HAM and MUC for instance.

[Conti764]

JFK, because there won't be a US Star Alliance partner for this link ( AA = Oneworld, and Delta = Skyteam ).

I think in the near future also:

-ORD ( LH flies, I think, 4 times a day to ORD out of Frankfurt and 1 time out of Munich );it's a very important Star Alliance hub in the USA.

-BOS

-IAD

In Canada; YUL

If they will ever start flights to the US again, it should be to destinations not yet served by alliance partners (so no JFK, no ORD and no IAD) so the (mainly American) alliance parnters can put their number on the flight and codeshare with SN to those destination so they can fill their planes better.

JFK is useless since CO already flies to EWR which covers the NY region very good. ORD and IAD are both UA hubs so UA might strart a direct flight to both destinations in stead of a one stop flight BRU-IAD-ORD. With those three hubs and US from PHL and maybe IAH with CO, SN would have a very nice link to mainland US trough their alliance partners which cover all the US and large parts of Latin America (CO).

I'd try BOS (very good Sabena destination back in the days) and a West Coast destination (LAX or SFO, the latter could be in corporation with UA who has a hub at the airport). Over time they might try some southern US destinations (ATL, MIA,...) and some Midwest destinations (PHX? DEN?)

Within *A, SN should focus on destinations not flown by their alliance partners, but on expanding their network so those partners could put their number on the flight and turning a bigger profit from the flight. They shouldn't care about prestigious but useless destinations (like JFK...)

[tolipanebas]

If I were to pick a North American destination, I'd were to pick Montreal.

Reason:

-) it was already given the go-ahead internally as first transatlantic destination back when SN was considering getting another A330, but then stopped in favour of more frequencies to Africa (notably the daily FIH and BJM route).

-) AF serves Montreal multiple times daily, so SN should have no problems to steal away some pax from them with the help of STAR alliance.

-) a code-share with AC (star alliance partner) will help filling the plane.

-) LH doesn't serve YUL, although LX does, but SN definitely has a much more francophone profile than Swiss and BRU is closer to France than ZRH is too, so depending on how much O&D traffic YUL-ZRH sees, it might even be attractive for the LH group of airlines to transfer the flight from ZRH to BRU as it would mean shorter connecting times for pax and less operating costs for the carrier!

If YUL would indeed be transferred from ZRH, then I'd expect it to happen somewhere next year; if SN is to have its own flight next to LX to YUL, then I'd say 2011 at the earliest, definitely not before.

Anyway, I've said it numerous times, SN should first focus on getting a good European network in place, allowing for connections (NCE for instance in disconnected from the long haul network!) and only then add more long haul planes, but I am pretty sure this is how LH sees it too..



-)

[Atlantis]

-) LH doesn't serve YUL, although LX does,

LH is serving YUL. I was recently at YUL and LX, KLM, LH and AF were standing next to each other. They are flying this route ex-munich.

[brussels airlines]

Lufthansa is flying Munich-Montreal only during the summer season.

But Star Alliance partner Air Canada flies daily from Frankfurt to Montreal.

[sn26567]

Expect them to shift and drop several overlapping frequencies to TXL, HAM and MUC for instance.

... which will free some slots the competitors that the Commission wants to attract on these routes.

[tolipanebas]

Indeed, for Lufthansa YUL is only a seasonal route from MUC and in FRA they just codeshare with AC, so I don't think YUL would be a though route to get their full support for, especially because due to the geographic position of BRU, it would make a lot of sense to route the connecting STAR alliance pax (mainly the France bound pax) through BRU rather than FRA, MUC or ZRH.

If I were to bet, I'd definitely put my money on YUL (followed by BOS), but then I must admit I've never won much money on the lottery.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

... but YUL is in Canada, not in the US... and Geert Sciot spoke about the US so...

[Boeing767copilot]

new press release

As already previously announced, the European Commission granted regulatory approval for the partnership between Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa last Monday 22 June. This decision paved the way for Lufthansa to acquire an initial 45 per cent stake in SN Airholding SA/NV, the parent company of Brussels Airlines. This transaction was done today. Lufthansa also holds an option to buy the remaining 55 per cent stake in SN Airholding from 2011 onwards. This option is renewable annually every April over the next three years. The entrance of a new shareholder into SN Airholding has an impact on the internal organisation of the company. From now on the Board will be composed of 10 members instead of 18. Chairman of the Board is Viscount Etienne Davignon. Other members are Michel Meyfroidt, Bernard Gustin, Theo Peeters, Emmanuel van Innis, Koen Van Loo, Stephen Murphy, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Stefan Lauer and Thierry Antinori.

[Established02]

Chairman of the Board is Viscount Etienne Davignon. Other members are Michel Meyfroidt, Bernard Gustin, Theo Peeters, Emmanuel van Innis, Koen Van Loo, Stephen Murphy, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Stefan Lauer and Thierry Antinori.

Etienne Davignon = ?
Michel Meyfroidt = SN
Bernard Gustin = SN
Theo Peeters = ?
Emmanuel van Innis = Electrabel
Koen Van Loo = ?
Stephen Murphy = Virgin
Wolfgang Mayrhuber = LH
Stefan Lauer = LH
Thierry Antinori = LH

[brussels airlines]

Etienne Davignon=chairman (independend)

Theo Peeters=Emeritus KU Leuven (Catholic University Leuven)

Koen Van Loo=FPIM: a holding from the Belgian government -also former 'chief of the cabinet' (don't know the correct English word) of mr.Reynders -minister of Finance

[Air Key West]

Etienne Davignon independent ? Is he not the president of SN AIr Holding ?
Why have a retired ("emeritus") professor of the Catholic University of Leuven on the Board ?
A why a representative of a holding of the Belgian government on the Board ?
Poltical appointments "à la belge"or just a couple of new "friends" on the Board.
Does the retired professor know something about running an airline ?
Well, doesn't really matter. In two years from now we know LH will run the airline I hope they will start to pull of few strings already now.

[Air Key West]

To come back to the possible b.air flights to the US, I think SN's concern could be that with the membership of Star Alliance, the code shares with AA will end and at the same time the good connections between the US and Africa via BRU might disappear.
I didn't have a look at next year's summer timetables , but if there only is a nonstop flight to IAD and one to EWR, b.air might consider to fly nonstop to ORD which is a major hub for UA (Star Alliance) and which offers many connections to the rest of the US, especially the West Coast.
So my bet is that SN will start to fly to ORD first.

[Established02]

b.air might consider to fly nonstop to ORD which is a major hub for UA (Star Alliance) and which offers many connections to the rest of the US, especially the West Coast.
So my bet is that SN will start to fly to ORD first.

By looking at the BSP revenue figures of ORD and by comparing them to the BSP figures of other US routes (JFK, EWR, IAD, ATL...), I would doubt that there is strong potentiel for a second carrier on ORD-BRU. The BSP revenue figures for ORD are comparable to those of ATL and slightly higher than those of BOS.

What connections does UA offer at ORD which they can not offer at IAD?
I think that IAD might be a more convenient Star hub for SN than ORD.

[jan_olieslagers]

Excuse my ignorance - I am but a modest student aviator, not an air travel industry expert - what is BSP?

[Established02]

what is BSP?

BSP = Billing and settlement plan

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billing_an ... ement_plan

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billing_an ... ement_plan

http://www.iata.org/ps/financial_services/bsp/index.htm

[Air Key West]

To Established02, I am tempted to say that you should also look at flights from an airline alliance's point of view. Next summer with only three Star Alliance (two this winter) nonstop flights between BRU and the US (IAD, EWR and Philadelphia), b.air and * Alliance might want to increase their offer to the US. Just as there are three carriers to NYC, a second carrier to ORD, to me, doesn't seem to be unjustified, since Chicago is the second largest city in the US and a major UA hub.
Of course, you could also consider YUL or YYZ in code share with AC to serve not only these cities but also the West of North America (USA + Canada). However, in their announcement b.air talked of possibly flying again to the US (not North America or Canada). So, my bet is ORD. (It's only a bet on a discussion forum).