Funny how people are now looking at some sort of hidden agenda with each and every single thing related to SN, while the question of SN to be integrated in Eurowings Group has been answered since December 2016. YES it will happen, EW and SN are now jointly working on it as we speak, the analsysis phase (mainly concerning the questions: where are the quick wins and how can we eventually come to a joint pan-European aviation group) is up to full speed. But that's a whole different question as to what will happen to the brand of SN on the long term (but some seem to see that as one single thing...), the SN name is here to stay for at least 2 years (agreed in the take-over deal), but as from that point nothing has been decided yet. As long as there is no better solution, which keeps the strengths of SN in the Belgian and African markets, it will stay Brussels Airlines. But keeping 'Brussels Airlines' doesn't mean we are not integrated in Eurowings Group as a company (while staying a seperate entity within the group), that is decided and both companies are working on that in a very good understanding right now. Despite the differences, both companies eventually have the same goals to achieve and both EW and SN can and will help each other achieving those.Yuqu12 wrote: 31 Mar 2017, 09:27 All in all, this makes it "perfect" for EW to take over SN, as they will have the exact same business model now: point to point connections at relatively low prices and then a long haul network (with some leysure destinations there). I think this step from SN (or LH) is a very clear indication that SN will merge into EW as they will start operating the same sort of connections.
The deal with Thomas Cook is a nice fit for Eurowings Group as well, but has nothing to do directly with that. SN has been working on a closer relationship with Thomas Cook for a very long time, after each year the relationship was expanded with more destinations and flights (scheduled and charter), while TCAB unfortunately became a victim of its own small size and the restructering of the Thomas Cook Group on an international scale. For LHG/EW it was as simple as saying "yes, let's do it" via their representation in the SN board. But that's not changing anything to the business model of SN as you seem to indicate Yuqu12. SN is simply expanding in a (very lucrative) market segment in which it has been rapidly growing for years now (especially since 2013-2014).
Let's not forget that the Belgian leisure and VFR market represents the vast majority of local air travel and there are also high yields to gain there besides the business market. For SN to structurally grow, remain competitive in the Belgian market and achieve it's own very ambitious targets, it needs to grow in more than one market segment. It's growing the traditional long haul market and related transfer traffic (Mumbai, etc.), it's growing in important short haul business markets with more capacity (Avro phase-out) and in some cases more frequencies, and it is growing on the very lucrative and relatively stable local leisure segment. That's part of the concept of the hybrid carrier. This strenghtens the position of SN here in Brussels much more than just expanding the BRU hub by increasing transfer traffic.
Any hub carrier, but especially the small ones, can lose their hub feed in an instant, because that traffic is not bound to your hub because of a strong local market. Guess why a group like AF-KL is so upset by the rise of the Gulf carriers. E.g. KLM's position is built on a huge transfer feeding network with a very important focus on Asia. They are now head-to-head with the Gulf carriers there. And no it are not the 2 daily EK flights to AMS that hurt KLM, it is the fact that EK (and the others) operate all over Europe and with that drain the feeding markets of KLM. KL seems to be relatively competitive for the moment (although still facing huge issues) thanks to the strong position they had built over the years, but for others it's something else. The treat of the Gulf carriers is an extreme example and concerns mainly the Europe-Asia market for the moment (where SN is hardly present, except for Mumbai now of course). But the idea is the same for all other major transfer focussed markets. You need to make sure you have a damn strong position to keep holding of new competitors when they start to go for your feeding markets. That's why many EU hub carriers are now so worried about carriers like Norwegian and WOW. They have a different strategy as the Gulf carriers, but the effect is the same, they have the potential to drain feed markets of the hub carriers by offering attractive non-stop capacity (Norwegian) or very cheap 1-stop capacity (WOW).
