SN long haul flight. What next?

[crew1990]

What will be the next destination Africa? Johanesbourg, Lagos, Libreville,... or America? Boston, Newark, Houston, Miami, Toronto,... or even Asia? Tokyo...

Let's start the speculation...

[RoMax]

No idea for Africa, but when talking about North-America I suppose: BOS -> evening flight to EWR (or JFK) -> YUL and eventually maybe ORD (in addition to UA) and/or SFO/LAX.

And IF 9W would ever draw back completely from BRU (which is at this moment pure speculation) I could also see a flight to Delhi or Mumbai...at least if LH would allow that (but if they are not granted more traffic rights, flights by OS/LX/SN can be their way of expanding as they are even limited in the aircraft they use, not being allowed to use A380).

[Duke]

Maybe Brazzaville again?

[Inquirer]

When they launched JFK last year, they said New York was the biggest transatlantic market from BRU.
Today, they announce Washington and mention it as the 3rd biggest transatlantic market from BRU.
An educated guess of mine would be to focus on the number two market as the next step then?
Anybody an idea what that destination could be and why it was skipped? Is it YUL?

[brusselsairlinesfan]

YUL or BOS!

[Skyman]

If you look on BruTrends, for 2011 :

1. New York with 581 000 pax
2. Casablanca : 193 000 pax
3. Chicago : 190 000 pax - Difference betw 2011 and 2010 : -20% !!!
4. Tel Aviv : 169 000 pax
5. Washington : 152 000 pax - Difference betw 2011 and 2010 : +63% !!!
6. Montreal : 149 000 pax - Difference betw 2011 and 2010 : +49% !
7. Abu Dhabi : 149 000 pax
8. Toronto : 136 000 pax (-1%)
9. Delhi : 130 000 pax (-0.5%)
10. Mombay : 130 000 pax (+5%)

I think is best now to launch ORD , the hub of United. Without American on this route, it's now a good choice for SN.
And if we know that the collaboration of Jet Airways with Ethiad and Air France/KLM, and if one day 9W leave BRU, I think that SN need to react so fast as possible and launch directly Delhi and Mumbay.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Guess a wild idea would be Tokyo, high yield,an a332 will do!
Since ANA won't be here soon...
SN can take the lead ...,like AC did with YUL..

ORD sounds also optimistic since AA left BRU..

But wasn't the focus long haul on AFI ?

Guess if Jet takes a move,.. one A330 a year won't do.
LX A340 a shortterm solution?

Guess not as long LH won't have full control..

We'll see..

Things looks promising altough!

CXB

[crew1990]

But if 9W moves from BRU, SN should think about YUL as well. They could even think about it now...

Toronto is a AC hub with a lot of connections on the continent, it would make the way of the PAX easier to have the connection in Canada instead of the US and all their formalities... Or why not Montreal, that was a Sabena destination as well.

[cnc]

Hi,

Guess a wild idea would be Tokyo, high yield,an a332 will do!
Since ANA won't be here soon...
SN can take the lead ...,like AC did with YUL..

SN would need 2 A330's just for the NRT route alone...

[crew1990]

CNC why would they need 2 more A/C?

[cnc]

CNC why would they need 2 more A/C?

any idea about the flight time?

[Flanker2]

Hi,

Guess a wild idea would be Tokyo, high yield,an a332 will do!
Since ANA won't be here soon...
SN can take the lead ...,like AC did with YUL..

SN would need 2 A330's just for the NRT route alone...

It depends on how they manage to combine with Africa.
HND is 12 hours out, if combined with some of the shortest rotations to Africa which are 5 hours out, you can do daily by alternating 2 aircraft between Africa and HND, without adding an extra aircraft.
This way you maximise utilisation instead of having the aircraft sit somewhere for many hours doing nothing, and it's what the big boys like SQ, EK and others do to get the most out of their aircraft.

[RoMax]

Tough Tokyo may be nice and would work (tough a more effecient aircraft like the 787 would be way more suited than A332 on such a long flight), I don't think this will be in the near future (within 2-3 years) and by that time ANA will be already on the route.
North-America and Africa will be it and MAYBE something like Delhi or Mumbai if 9W leaves the market.
BOS, EWR (evening), YUL (replacing Air Canada, which could go after YYZ), ORD, SFO/LAX, DEL and BOM (depending on 9W's future at BRU) seem the most logical markets to me (Africe not included).

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Grounded aircraft are not so efficient imho !
And no need to bring this in this story,.. SN can only afford older aircraft and delivery frames for a new order are years away! Even flying them again is not even in the very near future foreseen!
Any info for ANA solution of their temperory lack of longhaulers?

CXB

[crew1990]

I don''t got the point about an evening flight to EWR... JFK would be more suitable I think for an evening flight. and there is no reason to fligh to 2 New York airports for the moment, the priority is to go to other market like BOS or YUL.

[Stij]

Hi,

Guess a wild idea would be Tokyo, high yield,an a332 will do!
Since ANA won't be here soon...
SN can take the lead ...,like AC did with YUL..

SN would need 2 A330's just for the NRT route alone...

Not true! It combines Very well with the IAD rotation! Just as it did with the evening JFK rotation in Sabena s days.

Cheers,

Stij

[RoMax]

And no need to bring this in this story,.. SN can only afford older aircraft and delivery frames for a new order are years away!

That the A332 isn't that suited, compared to the 787 was exactly the point of my 'story'. It's exactly why I don't see them flying the route, SN can better use their aircraft on other routes.

Any info for ANA solution of their temperory lack of longhaulers?

They don't lack long haulers an sich, they lack aircraft for their domestic network (most of their 17 787's were flying domestic and regional international flights). As a result many routes see a reduced frequency as they don't have enough aircraft to back up. Other long haul routes are taken over by older generation aircraft, except for San Jose that has been temporary suspended.

[Tomskii]

Didn't SN say they would not be focussing on Asia for now (said when JFK was announced) they would be focussing on Transatlantic and African flights.

[b-west]

Shoot, they're always too late for me. Last year my holiday took me to NY, 1 month or so before SN started their flights, this year I'm going to the west coast but would love to visit some friends in Washington, again, 1 month before the new flight

[BrightCedars]

I don't think SN will venture into any route that requires more than 1 additional aircraft to operate on a daily basis, except maybe for IAH or SFO which can be combined with many existing routes that need less than 24h days for a rotation. A second ORD rotation also seems to be a no brainer.

Splitting the Canada ops between AC and SN sounds reasonable depending on the market there. If YYZ can work without the YUL traffic and YUL can breakeven without the YYZ traffic then it's probably bound to happen.

Other than that I think it's also important they add dots on the dark continent. Not necessarily South Africa, where there's plently of competition, but in those places where the bigger guys wouldn't be able to make a small and lean profitable operation. The development of Africa's home grown carriers and the milking of the market by the Gulf carriers must be a cause for concern for SN.

For a pipe dream, there's still that one market that should turn a profit from BRU: HKG!!!