airDC project relaunched under name "Korongo"

[flightlover]

Hey!
...Question is also...who will be the pilots flying over there?!

Nevertheless, airDC will continue...and sooner than we may expect. And for who is interested...it's most of all Lufthansa beleiving in the project!

Goodnight!

Didn't SN have some pilots in excess these days? Maybe they can work there for startup, until they have african pilots to fly them, either on a multi month stay or 2 week rotation?

We at AP get shuffled around in the group structure also, some go to Liège, some go to ostend and some go to the ramp handling side (and this for a month at least), just to keep the economical unemploiment away. True it's all in belgium but there have been other times...

[NCB]

About the pilots for a supposed local hub:

I'll guess that it will depend on where the aircraft will be registered and how the structure is organised.

Negotiate 7th freedom for each destination is not a walk in the park, so I suppose that there will be a local subsidiary operating aircraft with local regs, which means that the pilots will be working for a Congolese airline under supervision of the RDC CAA. The subsidiary won't be flying to Europe with B733/BAe, so blacklist doesn't matter and SN will surely easily obtain blacklist immunity for its subsidiary. Insurance could be tricky but the right arguments (facilities, SN trained staff, SN procedures, oversight, etc...) will surely give the green light.

In RDC you theoretically don't pay personal income taxes as a local resident, that's an advantage. But seen that the pilots would like to maintain health care in Belgium, they might prefer to keep residency in Belgium, in which case they would be taxed in Belgium.

Local pilots are going to give issues with insurance policies unless they have a history of flying with SN...
Pilot error is still the highest factor in accidents.

To print both sides of the coin, SN can outsource flight crew as expats to the local subsidiary.

If they find the staff that is... F/O's would be no problem but captains...?

[RoMax]

Indeed, SN already demonstrated that their know-how and influence should never be underestimated... as well as the power of their denial. Since when are the tiger-AVROs sitting on the ramp in BRU again?


What you're saying doesn't make sense to me. If indeed SN will rain on Hewa Bora's parade (a company owned by Kabila) and has secured its future in DRC, I see no sensible reason to handle Hewa Bora carefully or to postpone PR work. Since when competing airlines are gentle with one another?

SN has no money to show their know-how and influence in AFI. Think back to Sabena, the biggest airline operating to AFI and on that market they were very profitable. In Africa most of the people see SN as Sabena.

btw: The Kabila goverment give their "yes" to the project of SN altough SN will do it without Hewa Bora. But SN don't want to say this because of Hewa Bora is already furious on them. Probebly you don't want to believe me, but wait and see.

[teddybAIR]

This morning on the radio news exactly what has been discussed here yesterday...coïncidence?

[Gliderpilot]

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/econo ... ba_corongo

Project name is now Korongo, so AirDC is 'officially' dead now?

[TCAS_climb]

Same discussions as a year ago, history seems to repeat itself. Except that now LH got the Congolese virus too.

So if I understand the understatements made here, SN/LH are going to invest in a Congolese AOC and...
- take Hewa Bora staff onboard ?
- manage to convince the EU to stay away from the Black List (a PR nightmare) ?
- meet EU or at least IOSA standards ?
- be competitive enough to propose fares that the Congolese will be able to pay ?
- and make money out of it ?

Gee, I know Christmas is close but this wishlist is a bit over the edge.

Can't wait to see that majestic shiny silver eagle spread its wings, takeoff and free itself from a landscape of crass, bribery, incompetence and irrational decision making. 'Just curious to see where it will land though...

Have fun, boys !

[sn26567]

What strikes me is that the hub of the new airline "Korongo" will be Lubumbashi, which is not even on the African network of Brussels Airlines. The link with Europe will be through Kinshasa. That means that a European passenger wanting to fly from Europe to, say, Johannesburg will have at least two transfers: Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.

Any idea of the meaning of the word Korongo? Apart from the name of a Sudanese football player, I don't see any...

[tolipanebas]

This morning on the radio news exactly what has been discussed here yesterday...coïncidence?

This discussion sparked some people to unveil some key elements of the plan, which have forced SN to communicate on its intentions sooner than planned in a press release today...

Same discussions as a year ago, history seems to repeat itself. Except that now LH got the Congolese virus too.

Well, who wouldn't?
There's big money to be made with reliable aviation in the RDC and Central Africa as a whole, it's just increadibly difficult to actually do it...

Don't forget AFRICA is THE reason LH took over SN in the first place, so no wonder they are now also backing the idea of a regional feeder airline of SN. The African regional airline could feed not only the SN flights, but also the LX/LH flights in the region, or even the (future) STAR partners ET and SA.
You have to admit it, its a great plan and it has the potential to hit AF/KL where it really hurts, by offering something unique (i.e. a regional partner airline) which can put SN/LX/LH well first when it comes to serving Central Africa.

So if I understand the understatements made here, SN/LH are going to invest in a Congolese AOC and...
- take Hewa Bora staff onboard ?
- manage to convince the EU to stay away from the Black List (a PR nightmare) ?
- meet EU or at least IOSA standards ?
- be competitive enough to propose fares that the Congolese will be able to pay ?
- and make money out of it ?

That's where you got it completely wrong.

The new airline is not going to operate on a local AOC (so no blacklist problems), Hewa Bora is completely out (so no more secret agenda) and the airline is aiming mainly at connecting STAR alliance pax wanting to pay a premium to fly safely in Central Africa as well as wealthy locals who have money and want reliability.
In short, the project has matured and has been given a more common sense approach, but it has also become more costly as a consequence. I think you'll find the backing from LH as driving force behind both....

Is it a good plan? Sure it is...

Will they pull it off? Time will tell.

[tolipanebas]

What strikes me is that the hub of the new airline "Korongo" will be Lubumbashi, which is not even on the African network of Brussels Airlines. The link with Europe will be through Kinshasa. That means that a European passenger wanting to fly from Europe to, say, Johannesburg will have at least two transfers: Kinshasa and Lubulbashi.

Some corrections:

The airline is not going to be named Korongo, that's just a 'working name' of the project...

FBM is simply going to be the technical homebase for crews and stuff like that, but there will be ample flights to and from FIH which will be timed to connect to the SN flights there.

Also, the aim is not to offer BRU-FIH-FBM-JNB to Belgians: if you want to go to Johannesburg, you go non-stop via FRA (even today and on an Sn codeshared flight). The aim is to offer FBM (and other regional airports in the RDC) to Europeans as well as to offer local pax a reliable link to JNB.

In short: it is to open up the inland of Congo to SN/LX/LH and to STAR partners SA/ET....

[Lyulka]

not going to operate on a local AOC

If not on a local AOC, would they operate under the (Belgian) Brussels Airlines one, a new one, or a new one in a third country?

[BrightCedars]

What's the offer on JNB-FIH these days? I can see some combinations with SA and SN plus this new entity.

[airbuske]

Brussels Airlines richt nieuwe maatschappij op in Congo

For the moment only in Dutch

[SabenaForever]

Brussels airlines will start with a New African Carrier from Spring 2010, its hub will be Lubumbashi. The New carrier will be named 'Korongo'. It will start with 1 boeing 737. BA will not confirm the message yet...(source hln.be)

I hope this one will work...

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/942/Economie/a ... ongo.dhtml

greetz

[Nevihta]

1 B737 from SN ?
What about the Avros ?

good to hear that there is still something moving over there...

[TUB023]

it will be the RJ 146's that will start the project
can't say a boeing will take over, i know that 2 will leave the fleet not far from now.

[Gliderpilot]

Let's continue here -> viewtopic.php?f=7&t=40925
no need to discus the same topic in x threads...

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Very very good & enthusiastic news from our favourite airline brussels airlines !!!
I wish them all the best for this project : innovation at its best!

[RoMax]

I didn't expect this when I opened this topic some days ago.

Oh I forced SN to admit their plans.

[kiwiandrew]

Very exciting news . While not wishing to underestimate the obstacles it faces I wish the new airline every success . I wonder whether it will be affiliated to Miles and More , it would seem logical .

If ET join Star , as seems more and more likely , I wonder whether there will be eventual co-operation between SN's Korongo and ETs partially owned Asky ( apparently due to commence services next month from a base in Lomé ) , both aiming to fill voids primarily in Francophone Africa . If so I would think that would really frighten a lot of other carriers in the African market.

I could imagine that AF/KL/KQ may need to look at some sort of venture in West/Central Africa to counter the growing *A presence , or else they may risk losing market share .

[HighInTheSky]

I didn't expect this when I opened this topic some days ago.

Oh I forced SN to admit their plans.

I told you that you were asking the right questions But as Tolipanebas said, the newsleak was indeed not planned...

Anyway, startup is in the spring of 2010: that means a lot of work in little time! Busy times ahead