Brussels Airlines in 2024

[theeuropean]

From what I understood - and I can be completely wrong but - the pre clearance is part of the project hence it is taking longer than anticipated (the whole SN-AC-UA venture)

[b720]

From what I understood - and I can be completely wrong but - the pre clearance is part of the project hence it is taking longer than anticipated (the whole SN-AC-UA venture)

But there aren’t many flights to the USA from BRU. Besides with the pre clearance max originating from BRU will have to be at the airport way in advance, (beats the purpose) and any delays with incoming connecting flights will result in many people missing their flights or flights to the US being delayed. 60 min connecting time @ bru to the USA will no longer be feasible.

[longwings]

But there aren’t many flights to the USA from BRU. Besides with the pre clearance max originating from BRU will have to be at the airport way in advance, (beats the purpose) and any delays with incoming connecting flights will result in many people missing their flights or flights to the US being delayed. 60 min connecting time @ bru to the USA will no longer be feasible.

If you were to look at published check-in and connecting time limits for airports and airlines with and without pre-clearance, you’d find you are working off pre-conceived notions. Generally, pre-clearance by itself does not significantly impact check-in or connecting time.

Example, Air Canada has the same check-in time on flights from Canada to the US or the rest of the world. Connecting times are either the same, or longer by no more than 20 minutes (which is still great compared through going through USCBP clearance in the US).

The two biggest factors are going to be staffing and location of pre-clearance facility.

Location is tough because BRU is badly designed – it is built to maximize distance/time between gates.
The pre-clearance facilty and US-bound flights should be at the T gates, or if within the B terminal, even or odd low-B gates should be turned to dual-purpose gates and the pre-clearance facility located at the entrance of the terminal.

[b720]

But there aren’t many flights to the USA from BRU. Besides with the pre clearance max originating from BRU will have to be at the airport way in advance, (beats the purpose) and any delays with incoming connecting flights will result in many people missing their flights or flights to the US being delayed. 60 min connecting time @ bru to the USA will no longer be feasible.

If you were to look at published check-in and connecting time limits for airports and airlines with and without pre-clearance, you’d find you are working off pre-conceived notions. Generally, pre-clearance by itself does not significantly impact check-in or connecting time.

Example, Air Canada has the same check-in time on flights from Canada to the US or the rest of the world. Connecting times are either the same, or longer by no more than 20 minutes (which is still great compared through going through USCBP clearance in the US).

The two biggest factors are going to be staffing and location of pre-clearance facility.

Location is tough because BRU is badly designed – it is built to maximize distance/time between gates.
The pre-clearance facilty and US-bound flights should be at the T gates, or if within the B terminal, even or odd low-B gates should be turned to dual-purpose gates and the pre-clearance facility located at the entrance of the terminal.

Agreed, but we can’t compare bru to Canada, a country bordering the USA, with hundreds of daily flights( to from USA) from most Canadian airports. It is very convenient for Canadians to arrive domestically in the USA. Situation similar to the Eurostar passport checks in bru paris and St Pancras. Not sure it is viable for brussels though. It simply isn’t worth the investment, in my opinion.

[theeuropean]

Brussels airlines will resume Tel Aviv Thursday September 5 but the crews will not overnight as they did in the past.
Lufthansa group airlines should also resume operations.

Source: https://www.lesoir.be/619927/article/20 ... r-de-jeudi

[sn26567]

Today, A320 OO-SNO in Trident livery operated ferry flight SN9931 to Debrecen to pick up the Red Devils and carry them to Lyon on flight SN1172 before returning to Brussels as ferry flight SN9932.

[EBKT]

Belwest encouraging the LAX-BRU connection:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/belwestu ... member_ios

[Atlantis]

Belwest encouraging the LAX-BRU connection:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/belwestu ... member_ios

Was already mentioned in the topic BRzu Winter 2024 -2025 that in the first semester of 2025 there will be a royal trade mission to Los Angeles and San Francisco

[Conti764]

Belwest encouraging the LAX-BRU connection:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/belwestu ... member_ios

All fine, but how big is that market?

[lumumba]

Belwest encouraging the LAX-BRU connection:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/belwestu ... member_ios

All fine, but how big is that market?

On the African side it's big in my opinion they are no direct flight to the continent fron the west coast and the possibilities are quite small in the US only Newark and Atlanta with a very limited number of flights and destinations
after that it's Paris but still very small connection possibilities over all.
Sure you can fly all the way to Dubai etc... of course but it will extend your flight considerably.

[convair]

Is OO-SFH AOG @ Yaounde (NIS) ? Its return on Sept 12 doesn't show and it hasn't flown since.

[rwandan-flyer]

Belwest encouraging the LAX-BRU connection:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/belwestu ... member_ios

All fine, but how big is that market?

On the African side it's big in my opinion they are no direct flight to the continent fron the west coast and the possibilities are quite small in the US only Newark and Atlanta with a very limited number of flights and destinations
after that it's Paris but still very small connection possibilities over all.
Sure you can fly all the way to Dubai etc... of course but it will extend your flight considerably.

Yield is good with high prices, but demande is quite low (i will put point to point stats tomorrow). There not many destinations USA with a strong demand to and from Africa.

And you have already KLM, Delta, Air France that will provide via Europe to and from Africa. Turkish Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways.

Brussels is already linked to New York, Washington and Chicago which are among the biggest market. If they want to add some new routes : Boston, Minneapolis or Houston. But at Boston and Minneapolis even if the demand is high without a partnership with an airline based in these airports to feed route BRU, it will be quite hard.

AF is quite lucky because at Boston (up to 4 flights a day in summer with Delta and Air France) and Minneapolis (up to 2 flights a day in summer with DL and Air France, AF operates only in summer) they work with Delta Airlines to provide connecting in all North America via MSP and BOS.

But to Houston, Boston and Minneapolis AF has also a strong demand from India and of course Europe.

[rwandan-flyer]

Point to point market (2023)

Los Angeles Brussels : 20 204 pax
Brussels Los Angeles : 17 841 pax

Total : 38 045 pax

Total LAX - Sub-Saharan Africa (Brussels Airlines destinations) : 61 883 pax (Monrovia, Ouagadougou and Banjul are missing)

Total : 99 928. If we add MON, OUA and BJL we reach the 100 000 passengers mark. It's quite interesting (SN European are not included), of course, but the competition is stiff. Most of European Airlines and Middle East airlines operate at least 1 flight a day (more in summer) to LAX. SN is lucky to serve Erevan which is a big market for LAX (140 133 pax) and could rely some big markets in Europe.

The top 5 markets between Los Angeles and Sub-Saharan Africa (Brussels Airlines destinations) : Nairobi, Accra, Entebbe, Abidjan and Kigali

West Africa is the region where Brussels Airlines has the most destinations in Africa but demand is low. I don't have data for Banjul, Ouagadougou and Monrovia but demand is probably very low. About Central Africa and Luanda, the demand is very low.

East Africa with less destinations has a biggest the market is better in terms of passengers but also about the yield. Prices are very high

Nairobi + Entebbe + Kigali : 30 008 pax per year. About 82 pax per day.

The leg Los Angeles Kigali. Average price : 1 105 USD

Southern Africa

Luanda Los Angeles : 541 pax.
Los Angeles Luanda : 509 pax.

Central Africa

Los Angeles Kinshasa : 956 pax
Kinshasa Los Angeles : 861 pax

Yaoundé Los Angeles : 1 136 pax
Los Angeles Yaoundé : 1 016 pax

Los Angeles Douala : 1 118 pax
Douala Los Angeles : 1 030 pax

West Africa

Los Angeles Abidjan : 2 796 pax .
Abidjan Los Angeles : 2 783 pax.

Los Angeles Dakar : 1 459 pax.
Dakar Los Angeles : 1 458 pax.

Los Angeles Accra: 5 813 pax .
Accra Los Angeles : 5 794 pax.

Los Angeles Cotonou : 937 pax
Cotonou Los Angeles : 891 pax.

Lomé Los Angeles : 919 pax
Los Angeles Lomé : 888 pax.

Los Angeles Freetown : 716 pax.
Freetown Los Angeles : 628 pax

Los Angeles Conakry: 710 pax.
Conakry Los Angeles : 673 pax.

East Africa

Nairobi Los Angeles : 9 277 pax
Los Angeles Nairobi : 9 073 pax.

Los Angeles Entebbe : 4 205 pax.
Entebbe Los Angeles : 3 744 pax.

Los Angeles Kigali : 2 111 pax
Kigali Los Angeles : 1 598 pax.

[Conti764]

So, given these pax would choose UA/SN to Africa it could actually be a viable option for United Airlines?

[rwandan-flyer]

United Airlines doens't have hub in LAX. Only in San Fransisco, but the market is even lower with Africa. Washington and New York have a biggest demand but it's due to the status of these 2 cities.

However if we look cities like Houston, Chicago, Dallas, San Fransisco, Los Angeles or Boston. The most of time the biggest demand is with the Nairobi, Entebbe, Kigali and Accra. Of course depending the cities data are not the same, less demand at SFO or Dallas than Chicago.

Chicago (Brussels Airlines destinations in Africa over 5000 pax per year)

Nairobi Chicago : 11 279
Chicago Nairobi : 10 348

Chicago Accra : 9 842
Accra Chicago: 9 556

Entebbe Chicago : 4 255
Chicago Entebbe : 4 203

Chicago Kigali : 3 723
Kigali Chicago : 2 182

Lomé Chicago: 2 818
Chicago Lomé : 2 428

Total : 60 634 pax with only 5 destinations

Bigger than the market btw all SN West Africa destinations and Los Angeles.

Average 166 pax per day (but probably around 200 if we include all SN destinations Sub-Saharan Africa), but how many SN / UA have each day ? It's not in these data, but you have passengers with connecting via Chicago in others parts of USA and in Canada with Uinited.

ORD is a good route to feed SN routes to and from Africa. I don't know if in the future the numbers of pax increase if UA will add 2nd flight in summer, or if SN will start seasonal service to ORD (like IAD or New York). I won't be suprises if it happens in medium or long term.

[lumumba]

Is OO-SFH AOG @ Yaounde (NIS) ? Its return on Sept 12 doesn't show and it hasn't flown since.

Saw him landing today...around 19h45

[longwings]

United Airlines doens't have hub in LAX.

That would be news to United.

[convair]

Is OO-SFH AOG @ Yaounde (NIS) ? Its return on Sept 12 doesn't show and it hasn't flown since.

Saw him landing today...around 19h45

It was returning from NSI after 6 nights there.

[luchtzak]

Strike at Brussels Airport: Brussels Airlines cancels most of its flights:

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/luft ... cancelled/

[Duke]

OO-SFE spent 2 days in JFK.
What went wrong?
Return flight today seems to be postponed?