Will SNBA reduce their flights to BCN?

[sn26567]

For example Dublin (DUB), EI seems to be doing well on their DUB route despite tough competition from 'low cost' FR ! BRU is even one of the few intra-European destinations where EI still will be serving business class (= high yield) But apparently SN is not interested in the Irish market

Contrary to Sabena which had a fruitful cooperation with EI on that route. I agree that SN BA should try at least as a first step to codeshare with EI (and oneworld) on the Dublin route.

Not to mention all those pointless code-sharings that SN has with no less than 15 different code-sharing partners to CREATE a feeder.

The codeshare concept is, as already mentioned several times here, just a starting point. IOf the route proves successful, SN BA can start serving it with its own planes, still in codeshare with the other carrier.

FRA is a bad example, as it is a 'typical' feeder route (even for LH). In other words said, FRA is one of those destinations that is not feasible for SN (certainly not in competition with LH ) !

Unfortunately! I would welcome some competition on BRU-FRA to avoid the rip off prices asked by Lufthansa every time I fly to FRA. It seems that the point-to;-point pax on that route are subsidising those for whom FRA is merely a transit point.

The hub and spoke system proved to be very loss-making for Sabena.

Really? Where did you get that from? The BIAC statistics that the passengers accounted for a large percentage of the total number of pax in BRU before the demise of Sabena. This number dropped to nearly zero now. I cannot believe that these passengers also contributed to an impotant part of Sabena's revenues.

[Avro]

It is unacceptable that we can't fly SN to a big number of intra-European destinations, whilst we know there is a market or at least a potential market for a lot of destinations

I totally agree with you demol that there are still a gaps in SN's network. I'm sure they could benefit if they would fly to cities you mention.

Or what about all those destinations who are already being served out of BRU by other carriers, very often without competition on those particular routes

Well, first of all I think that SNBA had to be known by the people and had to get an image as a good company with a good service. Don't forget it's a very young company, and if they are not known, it's much more difficult to compete against another company that is well known.
Now that SNBA is a more or less well known company in Belgium, and that they have a very good service it would indeed be time to try to compete with other airlines (also from other countries).

But we can't complain at all. SNBA has added a lot of destinations last year. Let's hope they'll do the same in 2004

Ciao
Chris
8)

[Sabena_690]

Now that SNBA is a more or less well known company in Belgium, and that they have a very good service it would indeed be time to try to compete with other airlines (also from other countries).

But we can't complain at all. SNBA has added a lot of destinations last year. Let's hope they'll do the same in 2004

I totally agree, Chris!

Look at how SN Brussels started their operations:
- it was wintertime
- Sabena was bankrupt
- a lot of Sabena strikes fresh in the memory of the travellers
- people totally lost their trust into their 'flag carrier'

In this situation, SN Brussels had to build up a totally new reputation (it must have been a difficult choice: keeping the "S"-tail to remember the pax to Sabena, or keeping it to be easier recognized).

First of all, SN Brussels Airlines had to form a corporate identity: a professional airline with a solid management, a very good product, a great service (as well on the ground as in the air) and a very motivated staff; also their behaviour in the market belongs to the corporate identity (I think that SN uses the following strategy: first think, calculate,... and only after this they 'do' something when they see it can be profitable, that is a big chance with the incompetence that plagued Sabena); another important point within the coprorate identity is communication, as well to their staff as external communication. As you all remember, communication was a big problem within Sabena: the staff had to watch the news if they wanted to know something. SN Brussels had apparently some great improvements since no strikes have been made the past 2 years. My impression is that SN also has a positive spirit within the company, always very important.

Changes to the image of SN can be made in the corporate image, and this is where SN Brussels must have made a lot of changes too, to change the opinion of the travellers from a negative one (about Sabena) to a positive one. The best (but impossible) result is when the positive image of the management, is also the image of the traveller.

It has taken SN Brussels quite some time to get a good reputation, and apparently with success. Everybody I talked to after an SN flight told me they were very happy with the service and friendly staff. They rate SN Brussels as a very good airline.

Now that SN has gained respect (not only in Belgium), I tend to agree that gaining a bigger piece of the BRU market would be good for the airline. I don't see a possible expansion of SN as agressive as for example demol does (maybe it's due to the fact that demol is an insider, and I'm not), but I hope indeed that the usage of the ARJ's will be increased to open new destinations.

Of course, there will always be a financial aspect. As I wrote above, SN is facing a huge fleet roll-over, and adding new destinations costs money (certainly when they fail afterwards). SN will have to look for the ideal mix of expanding (but with brains!!), and having a financial strategy where making important profits is very important.

Hope I didn't make it too boring!

Frederic

[Avro]

Hope I didn't make it too boring!

Not at all

I totally agree Fred

And I'm very happy to see that SN succeded in the business until know, and hope it'll be able to do so for a very looooong time

Chris
8)

[sn26567]

Wow Frederic! What a nice analysis! I totally concur with your views, except for negative perception of Sabena.

It is true that Sabena has had a bad reputation in a not so distant past, but during its last years of existence, it has made tremedous efforts to gain a good image, and it succeeded. At the time of its bankruptcy, it was a fine company with an excellent product.

[Avro]

It is true that Sabena has had a bad reputation in a not so distant past, but during its last years of existence, it has made tremedous efforts to gain a good image, and it succeeded. At the time of its bankruptcy, it was a fine company with an excellent product.

I totally agree with you, on the fact that Sabena had a good reputation in the time before the bankrupcy, but because of the bancrupcy the airline had again a bad reputation. Remember all the strikes at the end I don't think that the customer really appreciated it.

Anyway we are getting fftopic: here, so let's get back to SNBA's discussion !

Ciao
Chris
8)

[Sabena_690]

Not thàt off topic, Chris, since the end of Sabena played an important role in the start-up of SN Brussels (or the continuation of the DAT activities better said).

André: as Chris said, the strikes during the months before the bankruptcy played a VERY important role in the perception of Sabena, in the eyes of a lot of customers.

I agree that their catering had improved during the last few years (thanks to Swissair!), but in the end, they switched to sandwich-meals in business class (not really what somebody paying €1000 expects).

Certainly their transatlantic C-product had a lot of improvements (think about the new seats etc), but don't you think that the damage had been made already? It takes a long time to build up a reputation, but you can loose it in a very short time!

Another factor is that a lot of people refused to fly Sabena, after a lot of bad experiences in the mid-90's.

Anyway, all this is history...

Regards
Frederic

[Avro]

Chris, Dublin (DUB) & Glasgow (GLA) are only the tip of the iceberg There are so many destinations with a lot of potential ex-BRU

Demol, I know you don't want to mention them all, but why don't you tell us some more destinations.
Even if you're working for SN , there is a section on their site where everybody can make suggestions how they can improve their product. You can also tell them where you want them to fly. Personnaly I think you should use that tool and tell them all your suggestions, you never know, they might follow your ideas

Internal & especially external communication is still very poor

I totally agree with you on the external communications. The press-releases are fine, but they never tell you the destinations they are stopping, or where they reducing the frequencies. In addition to that there are many airlines that have allready announced their Q4 results but SN seems to have some difficulties to publish them I don't know why

Instead SN decided to convert the 'negative' SN image (Sabena) into a 'positive' SN image (SN Brussels Airlines), ........ I understand that this is a symbolic gesture towards Sabena, but in terms of 'corporate branding', it is not the best choice that SN could have made

I agree with you that it might not be the best solution, but in my opinion they achieved to get a good reputation. I know they can still do some improvments

now with an awful additional orange touch

I like it

Anyway, let's be firendly with SNBA today since it's their birthday :dance:

Ciao
Chris
8)

[sn26567]

There is a section on their site where everybody can make suggestions how they can improve their product. You can also tell them where you want them to fly.

That's exactly what I did. I wanted some competition on the scandalously expensive BRU-FRA route. The answer (because it is nice to notice that all messages get a reply) was invariably: "We do not intend to fly that route".

[Avro]

There is a section on their site where everybody can make suggestions how they can improve their product. You can also tell them where you want them to fly.

That's exactly what I did. I wanted some competition on the scnadlously expensive BRU-FRA route. The answer (because it is nice to notice that all messages get a reply) was invariably: "We do not intend to fly that route".

That's probably because FRA is a psecial destination like allready mentioned above in the topic.
But I would still like to see SNBA flying to those destinations even if there is a lot of competition. They have a better product than many of those "big airlines", that's why I would find it strange that the normal pax wouldn't choose SNBA.

Ciao
Chris
8)