BRU Summer 2015: latest news, routes, airlines

[sean1982]

Those airlines from the Gulf is a blessing for Brussels.
We have a lot of good connection now to Asia and Australia.
For year all the Asian airlines preferred to serve bigger hubs like Franfurt,Paris etc...
And at the time there where no flights to the Gulf.

Exactly! Prices have dropped tremendously to asia/australia with short connection times in DXB/DOH/AUH. Much better this way than waiting for a belgian airline/asian airline to finally have some guts to open a route to the east. Making BRU A380 ready is more than worth the investment.

[Inquirer]

Those airlines from the Gulf is a blessing for Brussels.
We have a lot of good connection now to Asia and Australia.
For year all the Asian airlines preferred to serve bigger hubs like Franfurt,Paris etc...
And at the time there where no flights to the Gulf.

Contrary to you, I doubt they are a blessing at all!
Right at a time when the economic growth as well as the technological advance would make it economically viable to finally have nonstop flights to important financial and industrial places in the Far East, bypassing the traditional European hubs, we are going to allow the market to develop in such a way that any such routes will never be launched from BRU, thus limiting our choices to just (more) connections?
Allow me to ask where the real improvement is, compared to connecting via Paris, or London?
Sure, nice marble on the floor, but basically still not a nonstop flight to the destination and THAT's what's ultimately needed if you want to attact inward foreign investment from Asia to our country, you know?
Flights to the Gul offer a cheap alternative to go on holiday; they very much do not stimulate Asian investment in our country, something which direct flights would do far more, hence we should do all we can to get those, even if it means restricting the growth of airlines which aim at the same markets via their hub. They do so because they want to siphon (part of) the added value of those flights to the benefit of their own country, but we in Belgium shouldn't just let them do so, of course.
The aim of our government is not be to offer cheap foreign travel solutions to our citizens or to help grow airlines; it's to grow our own economy, and if there's one thing missing in Belgium, it's more Asian nonstop flights.

[airazurxtror]

The interest of our country, the interest of our nation's economy, the interest of this, the interest of that. What about the interest of the travellers ?
That is the main thing, one could say the only thing to be considered by an airport management.

And Brussels Airport should be fit and ready to accomodate A380s, Emirates' or other's, if it wants to remain on the map other than a regional airport.

[Inquirer]

The interest of our country, the interest of our nation's economy, the interest of this, the interest of that. What about the interest of the travellers?

As said: the Belgian government's mission is not to offer ever cheaper foreign travel to it's citizens, it's to stimulate the economy of our country: getting far more people a job is far more important than knocking say 50 euro off a holiday to Bangkok, I should think? Attracting more Asian investment would be a good starting point.

That is the main thing, one could say the only thing to be considered by an airport management.

By the airport, I agree: for them any flight is as good as any other one.
But it's not the airport which is granting the landing rights of course, so whoever takes the decision must look at the wider picture, taking into account more interests than just those of the airport alone: as I point out, some of those might be conflicting with the interest of the airlines as well as the airport in such a way that the decision is not what the airport would want to see, and for a very good reason.
It's also why certain airlines -which would benefit from a positive decision- use every tool available to them to steer public opinion and thus infuence that decision.
Let's not be too easily convinced by the claimed benefits, shall we? The reason I need to go to ZRH every other week is because our European HQ is based there and (one of) the reason(s) it is, is because there are good nonstop connections to Asia from ZRH, contrary to BRU. That's a lot of money which the Swiss economy get's from simply hosting a multinational's HQ, money which our government could use just as well, I suppose, for instance to improve it's budget deficit and who knows one day lower it's notoriously high taxes, and by more than just 50 euro too, at best even!

[Conti764]

Those airlines from the Gulf is a blessing for Brussels.
We have a lot of good connection now to Asia and Australia.
For year all the Asian airlines preferred to serve bigger hubs like Franfurt,Paris etc...
And at the time there where no flights to the Gulf.

Exactly! Prices have dropped tremendously to asia/australia with short connection times in DXB/DOH/AUH. Much better this way than waiting for a belgian airline/asian airline to finally have some guts to open a route to the east. Making BRU A380 ready is more than worth the investment.

For one single flight a day? Hell will freeze before a second company would fly an A380 to BRU...

[dna]

Allow me to ask where the real improvement is, compared to connecting via Paris, or London?

As a frequent traveller to Australia (often on Qantas), I am very happy that I no longer have to lose hours by transferring at LHR. Any flight from there will have a stop in DXB (in the case of Qantas) or SIN anyway. With Emirates, I have a direct flight into DXB, with just one stop (instead of two) and an easy transfer to the onward SYD flight.

[lumumba]

Allow me to ask where the real improvement is, compared to connecting via Paris, or London?

As a frequent traveller to Australia (often on Qantas), I am very happy that I no longer have to lose hours by transferring at LHR. Any flight from there will have a stop in DXB (in the case of Qantas) or SIN anyway. With Emirates, I have a direct flight into DXB, with just one stop (instead of two) and an easy transfer to the onward SYD flight.

Same for us when we fly to Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and more....

[sean1982]

Those airlines from the Gulf is a blessing for Brussels.
We have a lot of good connection now to Asia and Australia.
For year all the Asian airlines preferred to serve bigger hubs like Franfurt,Paris etc...
And at the time there where no flights to the Gulf.

Exactly! Prices have dropped tremendously to asia/australia with short connection times in DXB/DOH/AUH. Much better this way than waiting for a belgian airline/asian airline to finally have some guts to open a route to the east. Making BRU A380 ready is more than worth the investment.

For one single flight a day? Hell will freeze before a second company would fly an A380 to BRU...

Yes, it's only one gate. BRU will get their money back quickly with all these extra "happy to spend" passengers

[Atlantis]

I think capacity to the Gulf is already more than ample right now, so Belgium shouldn't be any more accommodating to any of the Arabian airlines than it currently is already, otherwise it can kiss it hopes for any new nonstop Asian routes goodbye forever!
I hope that those nonstop Asian routes are much higher in the "most wanted" list of our country over yet another flight to the Gulf region of which there are already 3.

There is a big potential between Belgium and The Gulf Area. Look at the many Belgian companies who you can find there, the Belgian expats who have an own big community there.
The flights we have now ex-BRU are thanks to the lobby work of the trade missions there were in the past.
But still, with the currents flights it's still not enough. The flights of Emirates are so full at the moment that a second daily flight is more then welcome or even an A380.

You can dream of direct flights to Asia like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, etc. So why are they don't here then. ANA is still postponing their direct flights to Belgium because of the excuse of the B787. Singapore Airlines and Malaysia don't have any interest at this moment to open direct flights to BRU.
From the side of Brussels Airlines you also don't have to expect anything.

So yes, it's more then welcome that we have the Gulf carriers here who can bring you in all comfort and with reasonable prices to the places you want. And it's much better then to make first a stop at LHR.
And those carriers bring also more jobs at the airport. This at pax side as on cargo side. Look at Qatar Cargo.

Have a look on the companies who earn now more money with it, how much it is generating. Compare this with Malaysia or Singapore. The difference it big.
Before there was also no direct link. Most connections were via Helsinki with Finnair or via Germany or the UK.

A 10 million investment in structure on the air bridges and taxiways? That's worth to do it. You also can use those constructions for the B777 and the future A350 who will come to BRU. So not only an investment for the A380.
I doubt if an other airline will come to BRU with an A380 but Emirates is at least a solid carrier who will stay for a long while (let's hope).
Compare it with a shop. When you don't see customers in a shop and after a while two people will enter that shop, more will follow. That's so typical for human beings. So when the first one did a move, more will follow. But of course, this case is different.

[Conti764]

For one single flight a day? Hell will freeze before a second company would fly an A380 to BRU...

Yes, it's only one gate. BRU will get their money back quickly with all these extra "happy to spend" passengers

Only one gate + tarmac adjustments for a rumored 10 million euro... That single A380 flight they'd get a day doesn't warrant such an investment imho. Those happy to spend passengers can come with a second 777 or a 330

[Conti764]

A 10 million investment in structure on the air bridges and taxiways? That's worth to do it. You also can use those constructions for the B777 and the future A350 who will come to BRU. So not only an investment for the A380.
I doubt if an other airline will come to BRU with an A380 but Emirates is at least a solid carrier who will stay for a long while (let's hope).
Compare it with a shop. When you don't see customers in a shop and after a while two people will enter that shop, more will follow. That's so typical for human beings. So when the first one did a move, more will follow. But of course, this case is different.

The psychology theory is a bit strange to compare with the way these major companies are being led...

From the 13 companies owning A380's, there are three which of course will never deploy it to BRU, accept for that one time promo flight of LH, and neither will one of the three alliance partners of SN. They will focus on their major hubs in Europe. From the remaining seven, there are four who are member of another alliance. Leaves the ME3... And from them I only see EK capable of filling an A380 to BRU. EY and QR will rather send their 10 A380's to other airports.

[lumumba]

A 10 million investment in structure on the air bridges and taxiways? That's worth to do it. You also can use those constructions for the B777 and the future A350 who will come to BRU. So not only an investment for the A380.
I doubt if an other airline will come to BRU with an A380 but Emirates is at least a solid carrier who will stay for a long while (let's hope).
Compare it with a shop. When you don't see customers in a shop and after a while two people will enter that shop, more will follow. That's so typical for human beings. So when the first one did a move, more will follow. But of course, this case is different.

The psychology theory is a bit strange to compare with the way these major companies are being led...

From the 13 companies owning A380's, there are three which of course will never deploy it to BRU, accept for that one time promo flight of LH, and neither will one of the three alliance partners of SN. They will focus on their major hubs in Europe. From the remaining seven, there are four who are member of another alliance. Leaves the ME3... And from them I only see EK capable of filling an A380 to BRU. EY and QR will rather send their 10 A380's to other airports.

It's better to have a second flight everybody agreed about that.
It's only in case they don't receive the permission,maybe Emirates will pay a part for it or pay a little bit more for some time in landing fees...,

[skumfiduse]

Icelandair is back for the summer season since today and they have a unique Northern Lights bird flying around, TF-FIU. They'll soon have 25 B757's and will be flying up to 5 times a week to Brussels.

Check their timetable for full details (flight times, days of operations)

[Airbus A330]

Probably not the right topic to discuss this but there will be a new meeting with ANA All Nippon Airways on Tuesday.

Article in French:
http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/cha ... e9b320e26b

[crew1990]

I would prefer to see Brussels Airlines flying there but it will never happened anymore I guess.

[sean1982]

A friend of mine is working for a subcontractor of toyota and apparently (and I didnt know this) there is quite a big branch of toyota here in Belgium and a lot of japanese subcontracting companies as well, who couldnt be happier with a direct flight to Japan as they at the moment all fly from AMS or CDG

[RoMax]

A friend of mine is working for a subcontractor of toyota and apparently (and I didnt know this) there is quite a big branch of toyota here in Belgium and a lot of japanese subcontracting companies as well, who couldnt be happier with a direct flight to Japan as they at the moment all fly from AMS or CDG

The Toyota Motor Europe (TME) head office is in Brussels and the Toyota Technical Centre (home to the R&D centre of TME) in Zaventem and you have some more things of Toyota in Belgium (such as the Toyota Parts Centre Europe and something in Zeebrugge). So yes Toyota, as the biggest car manufacturer in the world, is very well present in Belgium and is probably really pushing for a direct connection between BRU and Tokyo.

[sn26567]

Not to forget the Toyota plant (assembly of the Yaris) in Onnaing near Valenciennes, in the North of France, for which Brussels Airport would be the airport of choice rather than Paris.

[rwandan-flyer]

Air Traffic Rwanda EU 2014:

Brussels Airlines: 43 559.
45 518 (2013)

KLM: 52 655 (only on 3 quarters) projection: 70 000.
67 386 (2013)

Air Traffic Rwanda EU since late 2010 (arrival of KLM at Kigali):

Brussels Airlines: 172 317 (1 quarter missing)

KLM: 222 449 (2 quarters missing)

Sources Eurostat

[sn26567]

Why are so many people flying KLM when The Netherlands have no historic ties with Rwanda, while Belgium has always been present here?