700 jobs threatened at Brussels Airlines?

[Inquirer]

Ah, the usual complaint from a disgruntled competitor. Some reactions are so predictable, aren't they?

IMHO, this reaction indicates RyanAir understood the significance of the tax incentives Belgium is going to give all of its airlines in order to strengthen their positions on the common market and obviously it doesn't like stonger competitors.

They should however be reminded that as an airline with a base in Belgium, they can always opt to start paying Belgian taxes and Belgian social contributions for their CRL operations too and they can then immediately apply for the very same conditions should they really feel their Belgian competitors are benefitting from far more favourable conditions than RyanAir currently enjoys in Ireland.

[airazurxtror]

obviously it doesn't like stonger competitors.

Who does ?

[Flanker2]

I think that Ryanair has every right to put pressure on the government, the same way SN has done for Ryanair.

For me there are however huge differences between Ryanair and SN asking for subsidies.

1. Ryanair does not receive any state aid from Ireland. Income tax is part of the cost of doing business.
Lower income taxes are not a form of subsidy. I also think that the playing field is level, considering:
1.a. Everyone is free to incorporate where they want
1.b. Most of shorthaul Europe can be operated as open skies flights
1.c. Europe have many open skies treaties in place with several other major countries
1.d. 5th freedom rights are always negotiable

2. Ryanair does receive marketing incentives and subsidies from regional airports. But these are the fruit of negotiations made by Ryanair with the regional governments. Ryanair does the math and starts such routes with a realistic business plan to make money. Ryanair is making money and paying taxes in Ireland, so that money will circle back into a European government's cash register.

Giving fixed bail-outs to SN would have no apparent benefit to SN as it will stay loss-making. It's a business plan problem that should be addressed by the shareholders of the company and not by the government.
If the government give 30 millions a year for 7 years, all the money the government made off the sale of BRU to MAP would be lost. For the same money, they could instead have stayed owners of the airport and given SN a huge discount and milked the airport for years to come.

One more thing about this: SN and LH and anyone on the market don't realize is that if they think big and adopt a different strategy, they could crush the LCC's including FR, in no time. The problem with current managements and shareholders at the long-standing companies is that they are all coming out of 50 years of post-war growth and heading right into a huge depression (and we haven't seen the best of it yet, the housing bubble in Europe is waiting to burst). So they panic and are obsessed with cutting costs, cut cut cut.

They have to think new, think fresh. Recessions are goldmines for those who know what they're doing.

[OO-ITR]

It seems that Ryanair forgot to add a final line:
And most passengers also expect to get to their destination and back home safely, which seems to be a problem to guarantee for certain low fare airlines.

And you forgot a golden rule in aviation :
"You never hit out at rivals over safety because you never know when it might happen to you."

And one golden rule in forums. Never say the truth about Ryanair. Some people are allergic to the truth.

[Conti764]

From the above mentioned article :

Ryanair asked the Belgian government to reject pathetic attempts by Brussels Airlines to obtain subsidies for its high cost of labor, which would result in the Belgian taxpayer subsidying Lufthansa, one of the largest airlines group in Europe. '
We believe that if Brussels Airlines need money, it must come from their main shareholder Lufthansa, not from artificial state aid or subsidies from the Belgian government. In any event, the problems of Brussels Airlines are - by far - much more serious than wage costs or operating costs in Zaventem.
Our view is: Brussels Airlines is just another airline with high fares, high costs, at a time when most passengers expect low rates and efficient service such as that provided by Ryanair at Brussels South Charleroi airport.

They might have a point there ...

They do... Europe should ban all forms of state aid, be it direct or indirect and let free market do its thing. Then Ryanair has the choice to either raise their fees or go bust.

[tolipanebas]

Given the title of this topic is now shown to be completly incorrect, it might be an approriate thing for this topic to be closed off and another one opened in which all things related to the turn around plan of SN can be discussed.

It might for instance be interesting in such a newly created topic to compare the turn around plan of SN to that of OS which was launched last year and which is yielding very good results...

[Acid-drop]

why not. Locked then. New topic here : viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49383