BRU Summer 2017: news, new routes, airlines

[brabel]

Really looking forward to see new destinations in BRU this year...
Next to the already announced ones, looking forward to (maybe) see:
- Hainan to Shanghai
- Georgian Airways to Tbilisi and Yerevan
- SN adding more destinations (not only touristic islands served once weekly)
- Latam opening its European base
- Air Belgium hopefully kicking of in BRU
- ...

What do you guys think will happen/not happen?

Is Ryanair still going to expand more?
Is easyjet dying in BRU?
Is BRU going to grow again in 2017?
Will SN have been making profit or (small/big) loss in 2016?

[crew1990]

My opinion is:

Ryanair will continue to grow, after having fighter so much against Vueling which finally closed her base, I guess it will now be Easyjet the next target.

I expect Easyjet to close gradually all the destinations, just the Swiss destination will remain as Ryanair can't fly freely between Belgium and Swiss.

As the last year were catastrophic in term of number of PAX due to the attack, and as now the airport has almost completely recovered, the growth from march 2017 should be above 10% every month, same for Brussels Airlines.

[skumfiduse]

Shanghai has been confirmed, no? It's probably a matter of time when Hainan announces the final schedule and starts selling tickets.

When it comes to the low-cost battlefield, it seems both Brussels Airlines and Ryanair are the winners. One can conclude that Belgians are kind of loyal travellers: preference for a Belgian carrier and Ryanair's success is thanks to the multiple travel experiences from Brussels South/Charleroi. New Ryanair destinations? That's to me a matter of time.

I wonder how long it'll take to welcome IranAir at Brussels Airport. Tourism is redeveloping in the country, from what I read it's being promoted as a premium holiday destination. This fits the Belgian leisure traveller's DNA. Probably some visit friends & relatives traffic potential too?

Malta and Estonia hold the EU presidency in 2017. We'll probably see increased services to those two countries in the first and second half of this year respectively. However, Malta is already well-served I think?

Ending with Israel. A next step is being taken in the EU-Israelian Open Skies agreement. I don't know the details by heart but the number of flights allowed between EU and Israel has been raised. Things might develop in this area too.

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

The growth of BRU will not be evenly distributed: in March and April alone I expect at least a growth with 1.4 million people, the ones 'lost' because of the closure and downsizing of the operations in 2016. This is still independent from the 'natural' growth ...

Cheers,
Danny

[didierds]

Hi,

Flight schedule of new Hainan Shanghai-Brussels was seen onboard during todays Bejing-Brussels Flight

Mo-We-Fr HU7922 21:30 from Brussels
HU7921 13.30 from Shanghai (Pudong)

no starting date was mentioned

Didier

[sn26567]

Hi Didier. Welcome to Luchtzak.

[Matthias]

Cobalt (the new flagship airline of Cyprus, successor of bankrupt Cyprus Airways) plans to launch flights to Brussels (as well as to Paris and Amsterdam).

Apparently, the route has been confirmed by Cobalt Air and will start the 27th of march 2017.
source: http://www.cobalt.aero/destinations?_ga ... 1484143478

[nordikcam]

Latam opening its European base

Just out of curiosity : is this confirmed ? Do you have a reliable source ? What flights ? (GRU BRU ?) Flight schedules ?

Thanks.

Really looking forward to see new destinations in BRU this year...
Next to the already announced ones, looking forward to (maybe) see:

Member Brabel said "may be"...but he can have some relaible source ! It could be a nice opportunity !

[BRUpilot]

Latam opening its European base

Just out of curiosity : is this confirmed ? Do you have a reliable source ? What flights ? (GRU BRU ?) Flight schedules ?

Thanks.

Really looking forward to see new destinations in BRU this year...
Next to the already announced ones, looking forward to (maybe) see:

Member Brabel said "may be"...but he can have some relaible source ! It could be a nice opportunity !

Some LATAM officials have visited our airport quite some time ago already, checking our facilities etc. They'll want to build their European hub this year, so news will arrive soon.

And wether it's with a base or just a route, I'll give them a 90% chance of coming to BRU.

btw, Brussels airport is in talks with LATAM (Péru it is then) (and/)or Avianca to establish direct flights between the airport of Lima and BRU.

[crew1990]

We don't have Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro and we will have a link to... Lima?

[nordikcam]

We don't have Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro and we will have a link to... Lima?

Maybe Latam is asking to BRU for GRU / GIG and BRU is asking to Latam for LIM.

[luchtzak]

Cobalt (the new flagship airline of Cyprus, successor of bankrupt Cyprus Airways) plans to launch flights to Brussels (as well as to Paris and Amsterdam).

Apparently, the route has been confirmed by Cobalt Air and will start the 27th of march 2017.
source: http://www.cobalt.aero/destinations?_ga ... 1484143478

Thanks for the news!

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/cobalt/ ... s-airport/

[koninckske]

Ryanair reducing frequencies on certain routes (W1617 vs S17) from Brussels and of course NO offial statement from FR. With other airlines it doesn't bother me, but FR only shows the inflated good news. Can't remember the exact frquencies of last summer, but some seem to be less then last summer as well.

Winter 1617 vs Summer 17
SXF 21 weekly reduces to 17 weekly (and EZY stopping this route on top of that)
HAM 14 weekly reduces to 1 daily
DUB 18 to 16 weekly
OPO 9 to 7 weekly (no more VY)
LIS 14 to 13 weekly (no more VY)
AGP no change
ALC increases 5 weekly to 6 weekly (not even daily during high season?)
MAD 14 to 12 weekly
IBZ seasonal 5 weekly July and August (remember it being daily last few years)
PMI 3 to 7 weekly
VLC 5 to 7 weekly
BCN 19 to 21 weekly
FCO 21 to 16 weekly (no more VY)
MXP 14 to 12 weekly (EZY stopping this one too)
Treviso 7 to 4 weekly
MLA no change
LCA no change

When I exclude Ibiza and Grenoble since they are seasonal only, I count 19 weekly departures less in summer than this winter (if I counted correctly). Seems they won the fight against EZY and VY and now will start reducing their programme too to increase prices...

[crew1990]

When I exclude Ibiza and Grenoble since they are seasonal only, I count 19 weekly departures less in summer than this winter (if I counted correctly). Seems they won the fight against EZY and VY and now will start reducing their programme too to increase prices...

I think you are right, all the destination where EZY and VY has been pull out have seen a reduction of frequency while spanish destination where VY still flying too see an increase of flights.

[nordikcam]

Ryanair reducing frequencies on certain routes (W1617 vs S17) from Brussels and of course NO offial statement from FR. With other airlines it doesn't bother me, but FR only shows the inflated good news. Can't remember the exact frquencies of last summer, but some seem to be less then last summer as well.

Winter 1617 vs Summer 17
SXF 21 weekly reduces to 17 weekly (and EZY stopping this route on top of that)
HAM 14 weekly reduces to 1 daily
DUB 18 to 16 weekly
OPO 9 to 7 weekly (no more VY)
LIS 14 to 13 weekly (no more VY)
AGP no change
ALC increases 5 weekly to 6 weekly (not even daily during high season?)
MAD 14 to 12 weekly
IBZ seasonal 5 weekly July and August (remember it being daily last few years)
PMI 3 to 7 weekly
VLC 5 to 7 weekly
BCN 19 to 21 weekly
FCO 21 to 16 weekly (no more VY)
MXP 14 to 12 weekly (EZY stopping this one too)
Treviso 7 to 4 weekly
MLA no change
LCA no change

When I exclude Ibiza and Grenoble since they are seasonal only, I count 19 weekly departures less in summer than this winter (if I counted correctly). Seems they won the fight against EZY and VY and now will start reducing their programme too to increase prices...

FR is reducing SXF, HAM, OPO, LIS, MAD, FCO, MXP...all SN destniations ( except ALC and BCN )
FR is increasing PMI, VLC no SN destinations...Should SN compete vs FR on all FR destinations ?

[luchtzak]

FR is reducing SXF, HAM, OPO, LIS, MAD, FCO, MXP...all SN destniations ( except ALC and BCN )
FR is increasing PMI, VLC no SN destinations...Should SN compete vs FR on all FR destinations ?

I need a quick reply on this one, here is the Ryanair summer 2017 press release: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryanair ... -schedule/

so this press release is wrong ?

[nordikcam]

FR is reducing SXF, HAM, OPO, LIS, MAD, FCO, MXP...all SN destniations ( except ALC and BCN )
FR is increasing PMI, VLC no SN destinations...Should SN compete vs FR on all FR destinations ?

I need a quick reply on this one, here is the Ryanair summer 2017 press release: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryanair ... -schedule/

so this press release is wrong ?

I was just commenting the post of "koninckske" just above ! I do not know if it's wrong or not ! I do not know his source.

[luchtzak]

FR is reducing SXF, HAM, OPO, LIS, MAD, FCO, MXP...all SN destniations ( except ALC and BCN )
FR is increasing PMI, VLC no SN destinations...Should SN compete vs FR on all FR destinations ?

I need a quick reply on this one, here is the Ryanair summer 2017 press release: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryanair ... -schedule/

so this press release is wrong ?

I was just commenting the post of "koninckske" just above ! I do not know if it's wrong or not ! I do not know his source.

That's okay Nordikcam, I am waiting for Konickske to reply.

[koninckske]

The press release from Sept 2016 was correct at that time. I only noticed the reductions recently when someone else reported on luchtzak.be that HAM was being reduced to 1 daily from 2 daily. Then started to look at the Ryanair and Brussels Airport websites and noticed more reductions.

[Inquirer]

Interesting find.
Negative news is never announced in a press release so its really up to 'us' to discover it.

Unless they are freeing up capacity to start new routes (not yet announced) from BRU, it seems that indeed they are cutting back meaningfully and quietly. To announce new summer routes now, it's probably to late, so my take is it is indeed a modest scaling back, by about the equivalent of half a plane if I understand it correctly.

Mission half accomplished probably, with other unrooted competitors like vueling and easyjet driven (half) out (as was expected) while the home carrier proved a much harder nut to crack than they had estimated.

As I have said before: although ryanair is a very profitable operation, its still having pretty much a cherry picking approach to this business, meaning its resources are thinspread across tens of places in Europe and their ability to take significant financial hits only to avoid prolonged and subdued growth from a single base is fairly limited, so they will not keep up a strategic fight for years if it leads them nowhere, quickly.