Brussels Airlines in 2018

[KriVa]

I'm not sure whether it's the case here (honestly, I can't be bothered to check the timings ), but we'll always come back to the same discussion, basically.
SN does not have a large long haul fleet, so they can do two things, either run the schedule with "all" aircraft operational (save for scheduled maintenance tasks and a little slack built in through timings etc.) or keep one aircraft on standby in BRU in case something goes wrong.
The first solution means delays will be compounded, and it might take days or even weeks before the ripple effects from a disruption in the schedule have been gone completely, especially if you have more than one aircraft with problems at the same time.
The second solution might sound like a better option for the passengers, but it would cost them a heck of a lot of money, which wouldn't really bode well for the continued existence of the airline.
With a small-ish fleet, the first solution really is the best, even though you might inconvenience some passengers at some times. It still beats going bankrupt...

[convair]

I'm not sure whether it's the case here (honestly, I can't be bothered to check the timings ), but we'll always come back to the same discussion, basically.
SN does not have a large long haul fleet, so they can do two things, either run the schedule with "all" aircraft operational (save for scheduled maintenance tasks and a little slack built in through timings etc.) or keep one aircraft on standby in BRU in case something goes wrong.
The first solution means delays will be compounded, and it might take days or even weeks before the ripple effects from a disruption in the schedule have been gone completely, especially if you have more than one aircraft with problems at the same time.
The second solution might sound like a better option for the passengers, but it would cost them a heck of a lot of money, which wouldn't really bode well for the continued existence of the airline.
With a small-ish fleet, the first solution really is the best, even though you might inconvenience some passengers at some times. It still beats going bankrupt...

I fully agree with you. SN people are doing their best in the circumstances! But LH is certainly not helping its subsidiary (and itself by the same token!) by not giving it the means it urgently (not by the end of next year, as reported for the arrival of the last of the 7 "new" aircraft, but right now) needs!

With LH help, SN could rapidly build a much wider l/h network (there is no lack of interesting and under-used l/h destinations) and a bigger fleet; it would then be easier to face cases of disruption. How come LH can't see that?

[sn26567]

With a small-ish fleet, the first solution really is the best, even though you might inconvenience some passengers at some times. It still beats going bankrupt...

IMHO, being part of a large group like Lufthansa, which has a lot of A330s in its various subsidiaries, should alleviate the need for SN to have spare aircraft. Why not one or two spare A330s for the whole group?

Until now I have never seen an aircraft of the LH group flying for another airline of the Group, except the Air Dolomiti aircraft flying for LH from its Munich base. Why are there no other cross-changes?

[CTBke]

OS Q400's fly for Swiss as well André

[crew1990]

SN is operating for the moment a fleet of 10 A330, so form an economical point of view, it would be ridiculous to have a spare aircraft in such a small fleet.

But thing will change, with all the wet lease SN will operated for Eurowings long haul, SN might have very shortly up to 25 A330/A340, 10 based in BRU, 15 in Germany. Then there would be a point to have a spare aircraft.

[crew1990]

SN will have the majority of its l/h aircraft to serve EW from DUS. If there is a spare aircraft, it will be based in DUS.

Yes indeed it would probably be based in DUS but still it will be part of SN fleet and it can be ferried to BRU (or MUC or CGN) to operates a Eurwings or Brussels Airlines flight from another base.

As I said in a previous post, LH's investment go to LX and EW (and LH, of course) and to SN to fly for EW, but SN Brussels gets peanuts and imho will not be allowed to expand its l/h operations except to Western and Central Africa( if governments of some of these countries don't cut traffic rights).

And the new routes opened with New York, Washington, Toronto, Mumbai (wich all of them are not in Africa) from which investment does it comes, and what about the long haul fleet renewal. Why so being negative...

[CTBke]

SN will have the majority of its l/h aircraft to serve EW from DUS. If there is a spare aircraft, it will be based in DUS.

Yes indeed it would probably be based in DUS but still it will be part of SN fleet and it can be ferried to BRU (or MUC or CGN) to operates a Eurwings or Brussels Airlines flight from another base.

As I said in a previous post, LH's investment go to LX and EW (and LH, of course) and to SN to fly for EW, but SN Brussels gets peanuts and imho will not be allowed to expand its l/h operations except to Western and Central Africa( if governments of some of these countries don't cut traffic rights).

And the new routes opened with New York, Washington, Toronto, Mumbai (wich all of them are not in Africa) from which investment does it comes, and what about the long haul fleet renewal. Why so being negative...

it's just a matter of time before LH decides that star alliance partners can take over (AC for YYZ, UA for EWR/IAD and AI for BOM) in order to let SN be the specialist in African destinations

[JOVAN]

The latest inflight magazine has no longer a foreword by ex CEO Gustin.
Also not by the new Deutsche CEO (forgot name).

It is a sick behaviour of the Germans to consider Belgium as a 3rd class country.

Austrians, Swiss, even Liechtensteiners get more respect from the Germans.
They consider us as a kind of 2nd class French in the best case.

French are not better, nor are the Dutch.

With village politicians on the rear, and Dinosaur Davignon as a super-collaborator, we can only be very pessimistic.
And continue our tribal battles...

[Av24.be]

This is what Jean-Claude Delen, senior advisor to the CEO at Brussels Airport Company told on Facebook after the recent snowfall at Brussels Airport:

[travellover]

it's just a matter of time before LH decides that star alliance partners can take over (AC for YYZ, UA for EWR/IAD and AI for BOM) in order to let SN be the specialist in African destinations

Who knows...?
JFK is ... JFK, and the UA hub is EWR.
LH gave a boost to SN to fly to BOM not a long time ago.

[JustPlanes]

LH is too busy building Eurowings... They can give SN plenty of Widebodies it wants SN to operate for Eurowings... but not a single additional wide body for SN itself... and LH is also busy correcting their new livery. You would think a 5 star airline (which is pure bs as they're nothing like a 5 star airline) would have a design team who would know what a color looks like in dark weather...

When you look at airlines all over Europe nearly all of them are adding NEW planes... adding NEW routes... SN is not adding any wide bodies for itself... and all the planes it is adding are second hand... which is how LH is treating the Belgian airline... Oh and sorry... SN announced once a week service to Thira ) cool!

The only reason LH spent a few euros buying SN was to protect itself and now Eurowings as well as DUS.. thats where they are going to build and take whatever they can in Africa from SN... off course they;'re not going to do this overnight but wait and see... but the real responsible party here is whoever in Belgium agreed to that... just like those who agreed to let SABENA go bankrupt... you see the article here that Sabena didn't have to go bankrupt... what a shame....

And as I'm on a rant, last but not least, do me a favor.... take a long haul flight somewhere, go one way on Lufthansa and the other way on Qatar... and tell me if both are 5 star airlines... LH is certainly a very strong airline but you can't compare them to a 5 star airline like QR. The amenities, the seats, the food etc... no comparison....

OK I'm done for now have a lovely weekend

[travellover]

LH is certainly a very strong airline but you can't compare them to a 5 star airline like QR. The amenities, the seats, the food etc... no comparison....

I agree, I travelled on a LH A343 last September. The European four-engine remains a good plane.
The crew was pretty decent, but the latest generation seats are pretty narrow. And why did these Y seats become so hard compared to its predecessors ?

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Lufth ... _F_new.php

Have a nice week-end.

[Passenger]

This is what Jean-Claude Delen, senior advisor to the CEO at Brussels Airport Company told on Facebook after the recent snowfall at Brussels Airport:

.

I don't understand Delen's reaction; imho the blame is on very bad cold snowy weather. BRU is not equipped like for instance HEL or YYZ, because we seldom have to face such meteorogical conditions.
And you cannot blame BRU or any airline if flights are cancelled because other airports are closed or have limited capacity because of the weather (did you see the weather in Great Britain ?)

.

Poor reaction from Jean-Claude Delen (advisor Brussels Airport) indeed. You don't blame your business partners in public, and certainly not when nobody can be blamed for extre weather.

- - -

However, there was something indeed where Brussels Airlines failed on Friday evening - but it happened after Jean-Claude Delen posted his above remark. Around 23h, Brussels Airlines closed the support desks, although there were still stranded passengers queuing there. European legislation states that airlines must assist their passengers in case of cancellations due to force majeure. It may well be that those people were already on duty the whole afternoon. But they should have found a solution for that - example calling in volunteers once they noticed passengers would have to sleep at the airport.

Passengers that were left without assistance, and that are not satisfied with Brussels Airlines' public apologies, are entitled to some indemnity. Not the indemnity for cancelled flights, but moral indemnity. Example: a free ticket for a next flight, same routing. Or a lot of extra Loops for frequent flyers.

[b720]

Very true!
And the situation at BRU was clear to get worse as of 3 pm when it started snowing and flights got delayed..
They had ample time to call in extras or to work out an alternative workforce post closing hours. I was at BRU between 15:00 and 18:00 the situation was already desperate!

[flightlover]

Very true!
And the situation at BRU was clear to get worse as of 3 pm when it started snowing and flights got delayed..
They had ample time to call in extras or to work out an alternative workforce post closing hours. I was at BRU between 15:00 and 18:00 the situation was already desperate!

And who says they will find those volunteers? Maybe they tried but gave up after a while.

[sean1982]

Very true!
And the situation at BRU was clear to get worse as of 3 pm when it started snowing and flights got delayed..
They had ample time to call in extras or to work out an alternative workforce post closing hours. I was at BRU between 15:00 and 18:00 the situation was already desperate!

And who says they will find those volunteers? Maybe they tried but gave up after a while.

BA always finds volunteers and if they dont they assign people ... and pay them well. You dont give up on people that have been queuing for hours on end already, just because your shift ends

[Thomaaas]

Very true!
And the situation at BRU was clear to get worse as of 3 pm when it started snowing and flights got delayed..
They had ample time to call in extras or to work out an alternative workforce post closing hours. I was at BRU between 15:00 and 18:00 the situation was already desperate!

And who says they will find those volunteers? Maybe they tried but gave up after a while.

BA always finds volunteers and if they dont they assign people ... and pay them well. You dont give up on people that have been queuing for hours on end already, just because your shift ends

Dont make up stuff: SN doesn’t pay the volunteers during strikes of weather conditions: they are employees from different departments that 100% voluntarily go and help at the airport.

[DeltaWiskey]

Dont make up stuff: SN doesn’t pay the volunteers during strikes of weather conditions: they are employees from different departments that 100% voluntarily go and help at the airport.

Strikes of weather conditions? Who is making things up? Of course SN pays the volunteers.

[crew1990]

And who says they will find those volunteers? Maybe they tried but gave up after a while.

BA always finds volunteers and if they dont they assign people ... and pay them well. You dont give up on people that have been queuing for hours on end already, just because your shift ends

Dont make up stuff: SN doesn’t pay the volunteers during strikes of weather conditions: they are employees from different departments that 100% voluntarily go and help at the airport.

Indeed Brussels Airlines employee in those situation do it on a voluntarily base we, employee of SN are truly devoted to our company and we help when needed when there is strike, or what so ever.

Sean wasn't making up stuff, he just had his little egocentric fit of the week and referred once again to "his" employer British Airways. We know everything wich are graviting around him is always better, in the past Ryanair, CRL,... now British Airways, LHR... it's really annoying sometimes.

We are talking of Brussels Airlines here so don't confuse people thanks

[b720]

Very true!
And the situation at BRU was clear to get worse as of 3 pm when it started snowing and flights got delayed..
They had ample time to call in extras or to work out an alternative workforce post closing hours. I was at BRU between 15:00 and 18:00 the situation was already desperate!

And who says they will find those volunteers? Maybe they tried but gave up after a while.

MAybe, but no self respecting airline or business will close the counters during a crisis with 200 people still in line, and probably in line for hours.. that is not done and do not try tofind excuses for them ...they could have begged those working to work longer promising them more pay or vacation days or whatever.. u do not close the counter and tell your clients that my shift is up .. and no one will replace me before 4 am ..