Really, some here give proof of not understanding the LH concept. SN is going to be their MAIN brand on Africa (and there alone), yet any other long haul expansion from BRU MUST be driven PURELY by point-to-point traffic. Some US East Coast destinations thus come in view, but that's about it really. Non-stop demand for anything else isn't strong enough to warrant flights from BRU and the network for feeding such flights is much much stronger at FRA, MUC, ZRH or even VIE, so that's where they will be added.tolipanebas
You seem to have no clue about LH yourself.
What is LX's focus? They have a network in Asia (what a coincidence, HKG and NRT), they fly to Africa and they also fly to the US. Is it in LH's interest to make of BRU an African super hub with 40 longhaul departures every day? Forget it.
LH will be sending an A380 to JFK as well, and they are already serving BOS with the help of feeding.
I will allow myself to correct you: any new longhaul expansion at BRU must be driven by
point to point high-yield demand. AND some Africa traffic potential to fill the remaining seats.
FRA does already have 3 runways, the 4th runway is under construction.
But LH's capacity expansion at FRA will happen through usage of larger aircraft like the B748, the A380 and in the narrowbodies class, the A321. The added runway capacity will only help them better organise the feeding and longhaul departure waves because there is little room for new destinations or frequencies in their current network. MUC is stagnating and DUS will soon too.
BOS was operated by various Sabena equipments (A310, A332, A333, A342, A343) because it was hard to match capacity with demand, due to extensive feeding as Sabena was one of few European airlines to operate the route.
The route was performing well in the high season but was loss-making due to low-yields outside the season. JFK seldomly made a dime to Sabena and unless operated with an A332 or smaller, in a high-yield offset pattern with connections to a second wave of Africa departures with significant outbound flights, I predict disaster.
Cowboys initially thought to be very knowledgeable made the mistake in the VG/Delsey Airlines adventure, a great example of the failure of a point to point BRU-US concept. JFK and BOS have been a longstanding addicition that is best avoided in a small longhaul operation where things can turn sour very quickly.
It may come as a surprise to many of you, but Tokyo didn't make alot of money either, it was very often loss-making to Sabena because of low-yielding traffic (tour groups, etc...) itself caused by excessive capacity.
Either way, Hong Kong or Tokyo can offer better expansion potential to SN than JFK or BOS, especially in the context of the Star Alliance network and Africa as primary focus. Not surprisingly, LX focused alot of its focus on Hong Kong and Tokyo since the early days.
