Brussels airport (EBBR) Any ideas how to make it succesful?

[killerwhale65]

Tony, sorry to hear about your bad experience with SNBA. What went wrong exactly (if i may ask so)?

[Vinnie-Winnie]

Hi everyone,

Well too dificult to quote everyone but There are some points I'd like to comment on!

First of all why are business people scared of low cost airlines? Many reports I read in the U.K stated that as companies become more cost concious so do employees! Companies indeed want to save money and as travelling is a great expense well if companies can cut in these costs well the happier they will be. I always thought it was ridiculous for charleroi to be our low cost airport for various reasons: 1) the airport is being developped by taxpayers money cause they had nearly no infrastructure. 2) it gives a bad image of Belgium! Imagine someone kiiking around him! Look at dublin airport ryannair and air lingues coexist peacefully! ( Saying that it is an awful airport! Prefer stansted!)

Secondly never thought sn was that good! The avro's they r flying might be efficient, but they are sooo noisy and soooo uncomfortable! I prefer the latest 737-800 from ryanair personally!

The high speed trains to roissy charles de gaulle and schiphol are a further threat! Especially when Air france for example has special offers where it is actually cheaper to fly from brussels than it is from Paris!

Wish we were a bigger country! with a larger catchman area! Don't really think sn can compete against the others pricewise! Suppose everyone knows our labour costs which are huge!!!!!!

To be honnest Now that european skies are liberalised we should slowly go to a model with a few big airlines and one or two low cost airlines! So I really don't understand people who think that sn could grow and grow like sabena did....

Well that's about it... Good debate glad I found this website!

[RyanairNoWay]

Secondly never thought sn was that good! The avro's they r flying might be efficient, but they are sooo noisy and soooo uncomfortable! I prefer the latest 737-800 from ryanair personally

Hi Vinnie,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always heared that the Avro's are the most quiet airliner jets flying around. From my own experience as a spotter I can also confirm this: be it take-off or landing, the Avro's are quieter than a 737-800.

I admit the Avro's are less comfortable than a 737, but here SN is one of the very few airlines that put 2-3 abreast seating in their Avro's (even economy class)

Greetings, Jelle

[sn26567]

Yesterday, I was working at a RAM 757 when suddenly I saw 2 planes (air baltic and aer lingus) which were not able to get to the gate (simply because there were no free ones). I had this strange feeling that BRU really is a busy airport .

Yesterday I came back from VIE at 21.30. Pier A was absolutely empty.

On other times, Pier A is bustling with activity.

I guess it all depends on the time of the day, or the day of the week.

BRU airport was very active when Sabena was alive. These days are coming back progressively, but it will take time. Let our national airlines develop at their pase without endangering their profitability.

[Vinnie-Winnie]

Hi ryanairnoway,

Just by looking at your nickname I can see that u r already againstall what ryannair represents hehehehe! Does that includethe boeing 737

More seriously only flew once about a year ago the avro so I might have forgotten all the details about the flight! Do remember though feeling crammed inside! Also thought that the plane was not very stable and that every movement directly influencedmy stomach Never had such a feeling with an airbus or boeing with the same kind of weather: sunny!

Honnestly I am not anti avro! These little planes are very cute I find( and a hell of a lot easier to fly in msfs!!!!!) They also make perfect sense for destinations who do not attract that much crowd!


Vincent

[Lyulka]

I think we should look more in the direction of the east: China, Japan and other countries in that region. Economy is flourishing in that region, and so is air travel. This will mean that in the near future a lot of businessmen and leasure travellers will fly in that direction. Perhaps try to get China Eastern back again?
An other new destination which I think could be profitable is one to South Africa. I know, last year Sobelair tried it, and they failed. But what about BA not even receiving more slots anymore because they flew to Johannesburg too much allready? All flights almost fully booked! And it fits in SNBA's Africa network...

[vince1975be]

If you scroll through all posts, there is one conclusion we can already make: BRU should offer more long-haul destinations in order to be a good business airport and hub. I also totally agree with the fact that SNBA should first of all focus on profitability, but a solid long-haul network would be a welcome addition to their strong Europe coverage and to BIAC's network. And no, not through code sharing, because airlines such as AA are way off SNBA's standards and professionalism.

At first stage, their LH-network should only consist of their current (well-performing) African network, two or three important North American business centers such as NY, Boston, Washington; Toronto, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and like Lyulka said Johannesburg. Add the OneWorld alliance partnership to this and I think you have an ideal global footprint to attract more people at Brussels. With this kind of network I'm sure they would offer just what's needed.

[Zorba]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always heared that the Avro's are the most quiet airliner jets flying around. From my own experience as a spotter I can also confirm this: be it take-off or landing, the Avro's are quieter than a 737-800.

LOL, on take off, yes that could be, but when a Avro or BAe reduces speed in the air (like here, I live just under 25L APP, and they reduce speed a lot above my house) they make LOTS of noise, probably more then a 738!

But on take off, yes, you won't hear a lot

[ILS25L]

Airbus_fan,
I live a little bit further (Wijgmaal) under the same approach (25L) and I have to agree with your comments.
The Avro makes a specific noise when reducing its speed but it looks to me that the Airbus-planes are making much more noise. To what concerns the 737-800, I agree its noise is quiter. It seems they are more or less "gliding" towards the rnway.
But, to what concerns noise, I think it stays personal because everybody experience noise on a different manner (ask "Wakker Tervuren" about noise-levels and a devoted spotter, and you know what I mean).
Greetz, Karl

[killerwhale65]

I think the noise also depends on the company policy. Sobelair for example used to have the policy of an idle descend. This means that (as far as allowed by ATC) the descend is completely made on idle thrust, starting at cruize atitude up to 500 feet. Only at 500 feet they give some thrust again. But now we really go fftopic: