Brussels Airlines in 2017

[b.lufthansa]

Eurowings doesn't have a business class, will Brussels Airlines abolish this too?

What about long-haul ?

I think Brussels Airlines is more than a point-to-point airline, the last Eorwings press release states differently!!

[travellover]

If I understand right, high yield passenger are SN core business and financially vital (C or J class). Especially on long haul flights, as cargo is on another side.

[convair]

OO-SNF flew to East Midlands on February 6 as SN9901. Paint job?

OO-SFN flew to Rome on February 11 as SN9903. Bringing the Pope to Tomorrowland?

[sn26567]

I don't know if it has already been mentioned, but in January 2017, Brussels Airlines (growth of 8%) outperformed again Brussels Airport (+3.5%), thus increasing again its market share at Brussels Airport. Lufthansa, take notice!

SN: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/brussel ... s-january/
BRU: https://www.aviation24.be/airports/brussel ... nuary-3-5/

[Jetter]

Notice how LH Group presents it's traffic figures: https://investor-relations.lufthansagro ... 7-01-e.pdf It has 2 categories, network airlines and point-to-point airlines. LH, LX and OS are network airlines, while SN and EW are point-to-point airlines (their results are even combined). Seems clear that SN's days as network carrier are soon over.

[travellover]

Seems clear that SN's days as network carrier are soon over.

Not a proof that such a aim is pursued by LH in the future.

[Jetter]

What other reason you suggest to categorize SN as a point-to-point carrier unlike LX and OS?

[travellover]

How can you get ahead of LH's conclusions which will not be stated in 2017 about EW/SN ?

[Inquirer]

Just for info, but a 'hub' may be something else in the mind of the Lufthansa group, than it is in our Belgian minds.

I remember that when Lufthansa ran a sizable network in Dusseldorf (I fly a lot from there too: distance to DUS being roughly the same as to BRU for me) they always refused to call their operations overthere a hub, despite it being bigger than BRU in number of routes and offering connections too!

I've said so before: the Lufthansa group needs to get their nametags right: they seem to struggle with correctly denominating their different entities since long. I'd suggest they adapt the tag which has been sort of minted here: "hybrid carrier" for their B-brands as it would cover the load better than "point-to-point" (which neither Bru.air nor Eurowings are: they both offer connections), "pan European", "high quality low fare" etc. which are all somewhat imperfect descriptions to explain the B brands are flexibly adaptable to the local competitors and thus offer a hybrid product approach, depending the local needs, in contrast to the A brands of the group, which offer the well known traditional product, regardless any competitor on the market.

[Stij]

How can you get ahead of LH's conclusions which will not be stated in 2017 about EW/SN ?

IMHO... and I hope I'm wrong...

Spohr just promised to delay the announcement of his decision about the assimilation to get the approval of the Belgians for the take-over, but I'm convinced the decision is taken and unless a very major disaster happens with Germanwings, Brussels Airlines will be annexed by Germanwings (I refuse to call it Eurowings as this is bogus, the complete product has still Germany written all over it).

If we're lucky and they're smart they'll call it Brussels Wings and still serve real beer on board, if not, prepare for Gummibaren, Brotzeit and Warsteiner... Servus...

I'm convinced they'll never adapt the Germanwings concept to the Brussels Airlines concept. "Not invented here" and that'll be it...

I'm very pessimistic for Brussels Airlines and BRU: I believe in the future we'll have good non-stop flights to tourist trap destinations and EU capitals and good connections in FRA to other destinations. I wouldn' t be surprised if the German or Swiss "Bootschafts" are working overtime to get traffic rights arranged so that a smooth transfer of all flights but FIH to FRA or ZRH. The announced " Fleet renewal" ? They'll announce it, but in a couple of years... those planes can be moved to FRA in exactly 45min...

Then again, can you blame him? Two hubs 300km apart fighting for the same public... The Austrians are lucky they're 600km to the East (Europe's center is shifting East), and the Swiss are lucky they have a lot of Premium traffic.

The reason he continued buying SN and not getting rid of it or closing it, is covering FRA's Western flank... some sort of Atlantic Wall... against British Aairways and Oneworld...

I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Stij

[flywithUs]

I do understand your reasoning, Stij, and perhaps you'll be right and I'm too optimistic but :

With Belgium being sandwiched between AMS and CDG, LH has no possibility to force Belgians to travel via FRA (even Liège is closer to AMS than to FRA). On top of that, with recent figures about BRU and SN, we can guess they have begun to bite into Noord-Brabant and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. If (and I admit there is quite a if) LH management is rational, they should know that implementing your scenario is offering this ~20million consumers area to AF/KL on a silver plate.
I, for one, have no problem imagining AF/KL playing on the home language trump card and culutral proximity. And with KL launching more and more african destination and offering free trains connections to belgian cities, the danger is even bigger.

It's a long shot, but if the only thing LH gives to BRU is a generic low-cost brand, they should be aware that HV exists, too and that if in order to sell seat to Belgians the only thing they have to do is selling Belgian beers and chocolate on board, no one in Haarlemmermeer will hesitate one second.

That was for the "Logic" point of view. No let's see if the Germans can be smarter than the Dutchies, because the last one would gladly invade our market, for sure.

[Didymus]

I agree completely with flywithUs: large shares of PAX from the catchment area of BRU are not going to follow to FRA. If Stij's scenario were to become reality, people could go straight to CDG/AMS for connecting and long haul flights rather than connecting in FRA. Timewise this would be a zero-sum game for large parts the Belgian population.

[Stij]

Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I think Spohr thinks it's better to have 1 strong hub in FRA and "discourage" changing in BRU (hence the PTP classification of SN)
Our catchment area might be 20 million... but it's not enough to feed a lot of intercontinental and regional non VFR destinations without connecting pax, and therefore end up whit a destination portfolio as Koln aka JAF's with a few capitals...

Cheers,

Stij

[travellover]

Just for info, but a 'hub' may be something else in the mind of the Lufthansa group, than it is in our Belgian minds.

I remember that when Lufthansa ran a sizable network in Dusseldorf (I fly a lot from there too: distance to DUS being roughly the same as to BRU for me) they always refused to call their operations overthere a hub, despite it being bigger than BRU in number of routes and offering connections too!

I've said so before: the Lufthansa group needs to get their nametags right: they seem to struggle with correctly denominating their different entities since long. I'd suggest they adapt the tag which has been sort of minted here: "hybrid carrier" for their B-brands as it would cover the load better than "point-to-point" (which neither Bru.air nor Eurowings are: they both offer connections), "pan European", "high quality low fare" etc. which are all somewhat imperfect descriptions to explain the B brands are flexibly adaptable to the local competitors and thus offer a hybrid product approach, depending the local needs, in contrast to the A brands of the group, which offer the well known traditional product, regardless any competitor on the market.

Likely in LH logical.

[sn26567]

Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I think Spohr thinks it's better to have 1 strong hub in FRA and "discourage" changing in BRU (hence the PTP classification of SN)

I beg to disagree. LH wants multiple hubs. A prime example is MUC in the very same country as FRA: MUC is constantly growing, even at the expense of FRA. VIE is the hub for Eastern destinations, ZRH for premium travel. And BRU for Africa! Up to SN to show that it works, and BRU will be developed further.

[Stij]

I beg to disagree. LH wants multiple hubs. A prime example is MUC in the very same country as FRA: MUC is constantly growing, even at the expense of FRA. VIE is the hub for Eastern destinations, ZRH for premium travel. And BRU for Africa! Up to SN to show that it works, and BRU will be developed further.

I hope you're right...

[DeltaWiskey]

I cannot remember any specific reference to SN's long-haul flights, especially to Africa. Will SN's A330's cabins be changed to match the configuration adopted by EW long-haul (no more C class) ?

That's definitely not in the pipeline. There will still be a dedicated business class and (a true) premium economy class in the long haul offer after 2018.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

I don't know if it has already been mentioned, but in January 2017, Brussels Airlines (growth of 8%) outperformed again Brussels Airport (+3.5%), thus increasing again its market share at Brussels Airport. Lufthansa, take notice!

SN: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/brussel ... s-january/
BRU: https://www.aviation24.be/airports/brussel ... nuary-3-5/

Indeed, brussels airlines still show some amazing growth figures in January '17! Their market share @ BRU should be around 35% by now... If you add all of their PAX flying under codeshares, maybe you would obtain 40% or so? Still a long road until the 50% market share @ BRU but SN is undoubtly on the right track!

[skumfiduse]

Seeing 15(!) SN Airbus tails at the A-pier side by side on a Sunday evening is impressive I must say!

[lenain258]

I just saw that a flight to Mumbai was scheduled for the 20/02 on FR24! SN999. Maybe for Indian crew training? Thanks for yours answers