DannyVDB wrote:
2) Why would they not agree with TK and provide direct flights to Ankara: start e.g. with 4 flights a week and gradually add until a daily flight? That would be win-win for SN and TK and might open the door for a codeshare between both.
Ankara is definitely not such a great market as you might expect. TK has to keep some presence there as it is the constitutional capital of Turkey, but even they would prefer to focus completely on Istanbul and keep Ankara for Anadolujet. Except for some government or military related traffic, there is not much to find on such a route to Ankara. For VFR traffic it wouldn't even surprise me if Eskisehir is a bigger market from Belgium as many Belgian Turks originate from that region.
If they can compete or cooperate with TK than Istanbul is great, otherwise I don't think SN has to search for too much scheduled routes in Turkey.
RoMax wrote:If they can compete or cooperate with TK than Istanbul is great, otherwise I don't think SN has to search for too much scheduled routes in Turkey.
SN did try IST many years ago (with Avro jets if I remember well). They could not compete with the larger and much cheaper TK aircraft. And why would TK want to codeshare when they can get the whole market for themselves?
In addition to OPO which gets higher frequencies, SN's route to Billund will also see an increase in frequencies (3x daily). Surprising, considering that BA also flies the route (2x daily).
RoMax wrote:If they can compete or cooperate with TK than Istanbul is great, otherwise I don't think SN has to search for too much scheduled routes in Turkey.
SN did try IST many years ago (with Avro jets if I remember well). They could not compete with the larger and much cheaper TK aircraft. And why would TK want to codeshare when they can get the whole market for themselves?
I'm not saying they can, I'm only saying that unless they could compete or cooperate I don't see SN flying scheduled routes to Turkey (in response to the Ankara proposal).
It could only work if they get the pricing right (and the SN that flew to IST many years ago isn't exactly the SN of today, besides the fact that the Istanbul market has changed incredibly in just a few years as well). TK is not expensive, but often it is cheaper to fly one-stop (I also flew to Istanbul and back with SN/OS and LX).
SN could fill the gap between the pure LCC offer of Pegasus and the relative premium offer of TK. But I'm not saying it would be easy.
RoMax wrote:If they can compete or cooperate with TK than Istanbul is great, otherwise I don't think SN has to search for too much scheduled routes in Turkey.
SN did try IST many years ago (with Avro jets if I remember well). They could not compete with the larger and much cheaper TK aircraft. And why would TK want to codeshare when they can get the whole market for themselves?
With Avro's? Isn't that a long stretch to do with the ARJ's ?
sn26567 wrote:
SN did try IST many years ago (with Avro jets if I remember well). They could not compete with the larger and much cheaper TK aircraft. And why would TK want to codeshare when they can get the whole market for themselves?
With Avro's? Isn't that a long stretch to do with the ARJ's ?
No. The range of the ARJ100 at maximum load is 2130 km and the distance BRU-IST is 2180 km. Without maximum load the ARJ100 can fly 2700 km.
TK offers at least least 5 daily flights between BRU and IST and SBW . how can SN compete? It is a route that they should not even consider. TK in flight service is by far superior to that of SN, fares are not that high. It is a lost case for SN. They should look at other destinations. Besides TK is fishing in SN's( east and central Africa pond) cooperation is almost impossible. Even miles and more is only crediting 25 pct of miles to their members if they fly TK. A clear signal that LH group does not want its customers to fly TK.
Jaf is now flying for a couple of year to Istanbul, and still making money out of it. So indeed Turkish Airlines is a big competitor but still there are room for 3/4 flight weekly if Brussels Airlines find some partnership to fill the plane with the tour operator.
crew1990 wrote:Jaf is now flying for a couple of year to Istanbul, and still making money out of it. So indeed Turkish Airlines is a big competitor but still there are room for 3/4 flight weekly if Brussels Airlines find some partnership to fill the plane with the tour operator.
During the last months, Istanbul is loosing a lot of market share as city trip destination. Only cause: the recent bomb attacks at Istanbul (and now also Ankara).
jetair does not offer flights to IST. TK has the market covered.. With the Maga-Polis Istanbul is, and the huge Bego-Turkish community, and Turkish community in Germany and the NL, add to that the city trip traffic from Belgium, there must be a very good reason for SN not offering flights to IST yet.
Croatia Airlines to offer service from Zagreb to Brussels on 20 May [and also Lisbon on 20 May, to Copenhagen on 21 May, to Barcelona on 26 May and to Athens via Dubrovnik on 13 June 2016, with an F100 operated by Trade Air (Croatia)].
The Canadian Transportation Agency approved the THAI - Brussels Airlines codeshare service on thevBrussels - Toronto sector on 16MAR16.
brussels airlines Toronto S16 Operational Aircraft Changes
brussels airlines has revised planned operational aircraft for its Brussels – Toronto service, scheduled to begin on 27MAR16. For majority of summer season, the 5 weekly flights will be mainly operated by 268-seater A330-200 aircraft. Planned 284-seater A330-300 operation has been revised to 27MAR16 only, as well as 1 of 5 weekly from 08SEP16 to 29OCT16.
brussels airlines Expands Air Canada Codeshare Service to the US from late-Mar 2016
brussels airlines starting 31MAR16 plans to expand codeshare partnership with Air Canada, as SN code will be placed on a number of Canada – US routes, operated by Air Canada. Planned codeshare routes as follow.
brussels airlines operated by Air Canada
Montreal – Denver
Montreal – Los Angeles
Montreal – San Francisco
Toronto – Denver
Toronto – Detroit
Toronto – Houston
Toronto – Los Angeles
Toronto – Miami
Toronto – San Francisco
Toronto – Seattle
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Lufthansa Group are expanding their codeshare agreement to provide SIA customers convenient access to over 20 new routes on Lufthansa- and Swiss-operated flights, to and from points in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland via the transfer hubs of Munich and Zurich.
I guess this kills the hopes to see SIA coming back to Brussels for a while...
Actually it doesn't, it shows that BRU is an interesting market for them. There is no point in not having a codeshare which helps to develop your market there just because you might have a route there in the future. A far going codeshare is often a very good way to test and develop a market before launching a route yourself.
brussels airlines Schedules Toronto Launch 07APR16
brussels airlines in the latest schedule revision has confirmed new service launch date for Brussels – Toronto route, which will commence on Thursday 07APR16. The Star Alliance member will operate this route 5 times a week, with A330-200.
The airline has resumed its full long-haul operation at Brussels Zaventem Airport (BRU) on Tuesday 05APR16. Operations at BRU for European service also fully resumed, with exceptions until 08APR16 inclusive.