Repositioning of BRU operations to other airports after attacks

[crew1990]

The terminal is closed, but SN's own hangar can take 2 A330's at the same time.
As long as pax stay airside, I don't see the problem given that cargo flights are operating.

Do you sometimes think a little bit Flanker? What do you do with just 2 A330, and what about the maintenance of the airplane, this is an hangar, not an airport!

[Flanker2]

Well if you read a few posts earlier, I was trying to imagine a way to get around the issue of bilaterals between Belgium and African countries.
There are virtually no SN aircraft in BRU, so the hangar is empty. It could be used as a stop-gap "terminal" for pax, before boarding them again to FRA, from where LH can take-over.
They could virtually also file a flight plan to BRU and "divert" to FRA, but there could be issues with that. Also, what do you do for departures to AFI?
Pax ending or starting their journey in BRU could eventually be accommodated through any of the security checkpoints for vehicles at the airport, as they have big X-rays there too, which can probably even take checked luggage. There are many such checkpoints, starting from the Belgocontrol one in Steenokkerzeel from where you have an access road directly to SN's hangar.

I don't get it why LGG can only take 10 SN aircraft. Sure, you need a lot of temporary staff for such operations, but you can also charge the airline a lot of money for those services.

MX would be even less of an issue if the A330's can come back to home base.

[Acid-drop]

If you check the timetable you'll notice SN is just a client among others. First come first served I guess
http://liegeairport.be/en/flying-infos

[tolipanebas]

It's far easier to simply operate long haul from a Lufthansa group hub than from a maintenance hangar: they have much more adequate facilities over there, the feed is going to run much more smoothly and 80% of our passengers don't need to be in BRU anyway and probably won't mind not passing through it right now either! So why would you do it in a hangar if you can avoid it? That would be the solution of a stand alone company: luckily, we are part of a wider group and can thus make use of hub facilities elsewhere while we focus on just our point-to-point traffic for the moment: I've seen Sean has posted about the hard work it took to organize the move of just a handful of FR planes from one base to another... now image the same for medium haul operations 5 times bigger, split out over 2 airports where we have no base!
We can do without the added complications of long haul connections, believe me.

[Acid-drop]

Iberia is also moving 3 flights per day to LGG (Lieja)
http://cincodias.com/cincodias/2016/03/ ... 58677.html

Vueling (17 flights) and air europa also.
http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/201603 ... lieja.html

[Bralo20]

Well if you read a few posts earlier, I was trying to imagine a way to get around the issue of bilaterals between Belgium and African countries.

Since several AFI flights are being operated i'm pretty sure they worked out the kinks. We all know there are strikt bilaterals on the AFI routes but this is not a simple change of destination, these are extraordinary circumstances that happened and I'm pretty sure the governments in question won't mind a change in airport (or even country) for the next couple of days/weeks. It's not like it was SN's fault this happened. And why fly to an airport like LGG, CRL or even OST when you can fly to a partner hub who can take care of the passengers. It's an emergency situation that won't last forever.

There's no need to create temporary immigration or security inside a hangar that otherwise could be used for maintenance or repairs. Why make it yourself hard when there's an easy way?

Is it really that important to you to have SN seen as a bunch of "bricoleurs" who can't figure out a decent solution and thus use a hangar instead?

[ostair]

Iberia,Adria, TAP, SN BRUSSELS, Thomas Cook will be using Liege.

Easyjet will use Lille.

No news from Vueling allthough as mother Iberia is using Liege they might will opt for this airport.
Corendon is talking with Liege.

EBOS is a Jetairfly airport only at the moment.

If anyone has any info regarding diverted flights/companies please be free to correct me or add info.

[Acid-drop]

Vueling confirmed, here is the list of flights
http://vuelingnews.com/vuelos-operados- ... 6/?lang=fr

I wonder how LGG will be able to handle so much now...

[tangolima]

Iberia,Adria, TAP, SN BRUSSELS, Thomas Cook will be using Liege.

Easyjet will use Lille.

No news from Vueling allthough as mother Iberia is using Liege they might will opt for this airport.
Corendon is talking with Liege.

EBOS is a Jetairfly airport only at the moment.

If anyone has any info regarding diverted flights/companies please be free to correct me or add info.

Hello

CAI flight is planned for LGG (see my lists in the planespotting topic)

Greetings,

[convair]

Since several AFI flights are being operated i'm pretty sure they worked out the kinks. We all know there are strikt bilaterals on the AFI routes but this is not a simple change of destination, these are extraordinary circumstances that happened and I'm pretty sure the governments in question won't mind a change in airport (or even country) for the next couple of days/weeks. It's not like it was SN's fault this happened. And why fly to an airport like LGG, CRL or even OST when you can fly to a partner hub who can take care of the passengers. It's an emergency situation that won't last forever.

They will still need these governments' authorization. Some ot them are somewhat flexible but others are very bureaucratic and their agreement might not come in time to be useful. I hope they can get them though, given the circumstances.

[sn26567]

In addition to easyJet, Aegean Airlines will also operate some flights from Lille.

[sn26567]

All Austrian Airlines flights to/from Brussels scheduled until Easter Monday 28 March 2016 have been cancelled

[FLYAIR10]

so those long haul leave empty to bring back some pax ?

I would hope that they carried at least some cargo. No pax would mean plenty of space for freight.

Is moving the freight part of the contingency plan..? or is it just piling up in Brucargo?

What about the US flights?

[convair]

Here they mention 10 airbus in LGG and 5 avro in ANR
http://m.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/ ... 22d5a98d4c

Also important to note is that the Afi flights will use Zurich as base. Excellent choice!

Does SWISS have enough flghts to/from CDG in the morning to accomodate all SN pax connecting to Afi?

Now, the cherry on the cake would be for SWISS to add 1 or 2 (SN normally has 3) or to allow SN to perform a couple of CDG-ZHR flights in the morning.

[Magiktrix]

If you check the timetable you'll notice SN is just a client among others. First come first served I guess
http://liegeairport.be/en/flying-infos

Take care, right now this list is not up to date anymore. Best info from each airlines.

[rwandan-flyer]

Here they mention 10 airbus in LGG and 5 avro in ANR
http://m.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/ ... 22d5a98d4c

Also important to note is that the Afi flights will use Zurich as base. Excellent choice!

Does SWISS have enough flghts to/from CDG in the morning to accomodate all SN pax connecting to Afi?

Now, the cherry on the cake would be for SWISS to add 1 or 2 (SN normally has 3) or to allow SN to perform a couple of CDG-ZHR flights in the morning.

In deed, Flights from Yaounde, Moronvia and Freetown can be seen on Zurich Airport website.

Brussels Airlines has published a statement about its flights at LGG and ANR, but nothing about Africa, probably due to a lack of information, some flights are probably grounded, waiting for the authorization

[sn26567]

brussels airlines Operations on 24MAR16

brussels airlines has posted planned operation for flights on 24MAR16, which sees the airline operating to/from Antwerp and Liege, as Brussels Zaventem (BRU) remains closed on Thursday. At Antwerp, flights are appearing in the GDS, which will be served by Avro RJ100 aircraft.

Planned operation as follow. Updated flight information will be posted on the airline’s website regularly.

Antwerp – Bilbao SN1713/1714
Antwerp – Edinburgh SN1563/1654
Antwerp – Geneva SN1523/1524
Antwerp – Gothenburg SN1517/1518
Antwerp – Lyon SN1691/1692
Antwerp – Prague SN1509/1510
Antwerp – Stockholm Bromma SN1603/1604, SN1607/1608
Antwerp – Toulouse SN1667/1668
Liege – Barcelona 2 flights
Liege – Berlin Tegel 1 flight
Liege – Budapest 1 flight
Liege – Copenhagen 2 flights
Liege – Geneva 2 flights
Liege – Madrid 2 flights
Liege – Malaga 1 flight (This flight also replaces Brussels – Seville flight)
Liege – Manchester 1 flight
Liege – Milan Linate 1 flight
Liege – Milan Malpensa 2 flights
Liege – Nice 1 flight
Liege – Rome 2 flights
Liege – Tel Aviv 1 flight
Liege – Venice 1 flight
Liege – Vienna SN1705/1706 (320)
Liege – Vilnius 1 flight
Liege – Zagreb 1 flight

Source: Airline Route

See also the Brussels Airlines strategy for long-haul: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/brussel ... erp-liege/

[CSB]

Apparantely Lufthansa is also cancelling flights over the weekend. I had a flight to Frankfurt Sunday morning, which was cancelled tonight.

[sn26567]

Apparantely Lufthansa is also cancelling flights over the weekend. I had a flight to Frankfurt Sunday morning, which was cancelled tonight.

Did they offer you an alternative?

[mad_fab]

Hey guys,

First, thanks to all the people working hard at BRU, SN, FR, JAF, TCB etc.. you're doing a great job. Tough times for all of us, but you're making me proud to be Belgian.

That said, I went to BRU with the hope to see the apron full of SN planes and.. well the Avro where home but most of the Airbus where gone or parked at the odd stands (unable to get pictures from R3 from where I was).
So for those asking for which planes were still/back at BRU, here are the pics . Sorry for the quality, I just arrived home so it's directly out of the DSLR (anyway, there's no point in lightrooming those, because that was very far for my 300mm, it's just to give you an idea of which plane were there).

As you can see, even if the sky was very dark, there was still some light on our airport