Brussels Airlines joining Star Alliance in December 2009

[NCB]

The jump from an A320 family type to a B757 is quite risky actually.
The B757 is a narrowbody with widebody economics. Its payload-range capability is paid for by higher fuel burn.

Perhaps the B752 is too big for most of SN's operations?
It would certainly be too big to serve many of African destinations non-stop hub to spoke.

Why are they derating the A319LR?
If true, SN gets the donkey of the year award.
They get their hands on a rare, cheap, non-new A319LR, and they want to use it only for shorthaul operations?

[RoMax]

Now, NCB if it is wright about that A319LR it shows that SN is smarter than you. The A319LR is suitable for AFI operations but NOT for SN. And like another topic showed, I am not the only one that thinks this. The A319 showed itself as a good aircraft for SN's short-mid haul flights. AND this first A319 will replace a B733 (OO-LTM for Korongo), so absolutly impossible to deploy this plane on AFI destinations. It have to take over the former B733 flights.

I think some B752's would be not the best option. They would be very lonely in the LH group, altough Austrian is flying with B763's and said they think about replacing the B772's by B763's because the B777's are to big for them. But still, I think there must be a better choice, althoug I don't know wich one.
And NCB, you showed again that you don't read every replay on a good way. "cathay Belgium" said leterly "Off course I'm talking about TA-USA flights and forget AFI because the lack of the needed cargo-capacaty!" but you can't leave it to tell that the B752 would be unsuitable for many AFI destinations on a "non-stop hub and spoke" way. Well that's not needed because everyone knows that B752's are not good for AFI flights.

So it's clear you still have A319 AFI services in mind, but again FORGET THIS FOR THE FIRST YEARS, maybe after all B737's are replaced, maybe, but not before that!!

[RoMax]

I just find an article about SN on "www.bangkokpost.com". It's about a intervieuw on the Star entry of SN but it's only yesterday published.
Bernard Gustin is not that happy with the fact that airlines like Thai sees BRU as a secondary market.
He has advised fellow Star Alliance airline members including THAI to evaluate the market opportunities to establish direct links between Brussels and Bangkok and between Brussels and Tokyo. If this evaluation would be possitive, SN and BRU would be extremely happy to welcome these airlines in BRU.
The president of Thai said they don't have enough planes to operate non-stop to BRU but they said "Maybe we have to go back and look at Brussels and see why a lot of carriers do not fly non-stop from Asia to the EU capital". They named a flight via Athens as solution.
SN said they were unable to start services to Asia because of the crisis, but they absolutly want a non-stop to Bangkok.
SN said:"Once the crisis is over, we will, of course, embark on expansion and assessing some destinations in the US and Asia. We need to be cautious."
And they said there must comme another type of aircraft for flights to US and Asia than the A333's deployed on the AFI flights.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tou ... pportunity

[NCB]

Yes, it is (w)right to say of(f) course that SN is losing market share in Africa.
If SN doesn't have a dominant position in Africa by 2015, by 2020 BRU will be the hub of a new airline and SN will operate as LH Regional or Air Atomium.

Afriqiyah BRU-TIP-FIH return = 513.15 EUR Layover 90 min/110 min
SN BRU-FIH via DLA = 1184.66 EUR

Afriqiyah Baggage allowance:

a) Economy–Class: 2 x 24kgs checked luggage plus 8kg carry-on bag

b) Business–Class: 3 x 24kgs checked luggage 8kg carry-on bag

c) Carry-on luggage: 1 piece of max. 8kgs

[Conti764]

And they said there must comme another type of aircraft for flights to US and Asia than the A333's deployed on the AFI flights.

Probably an A330-200 or A340-300 if the same capacity as the 333 is needed...

[airbuske]

Codeshare agreement between Brussels Airlines and Spanair on onward connections from Madrid.

Brussels Airlines and Spanair were already codesharing on some flights from Brussels to Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid. As from now Brussels Airlines will put its flight code on some destinations operated by Spanair from Madrid Barajas airport.These destinations are Alicante, A Coruña, Ibiza and Tenerife Norte.

[cnc]

Well that's not needed because everyone knows that B752's are not good for AFI flights.

aw such a reply from MR_BOEING
why wouldn't the 757 be good for AFI flights?
you should have said they are no good for SN's AFI operations because the 757 might actualy feel insulted now

[RoMax]

It's not because I am a Boeing lover that I must say that Boeing is perfect.
But indeed I could say it in another way, the 757 is not good for long haul AFI operations when cargo is very important.

[TUB023]

OO-VEJ is leaving the fleet soon, won't be long now.

[RoMax]

Already some news about the Austrian codeshare? And maybe Continental? I remember me an article of a few months ago, in that article they mentionned Continental as a possible future partner for US flights. That was some weeks after United anounced their ORD flight (and the partnership with SN). But there was no decision taken yet at that time.

[HighInTheSky]

No news yet AFAIK, but it's about time to open the sales for flights to the US after 27th of March... No flights are available after this date, since SN won't codeshare anymore on AA flights.

So I guess (and hope) that we will know something more in the next couple of weeks...

[RoMax]

Yes indeed, for the moment you can't book any tickets to the US after 27 March and 28 March isn't that far away anymore.
And I would like to know if they will codeshare with US Airways. If yes and also with CO, UA and AC they can offer Philadelphia, Chicago, Newark, Washington and Montreal (Toronto) non-stop from comming summer. But I am not sure if they will codeshare with all these company's (AC and UA for sure, but US and CO...)

[RoMax]

TAM Partners with Brussels Airlines

TAM celebrated an agreement with Brussels Airlines, an airline company which is part of Star Alliance, to allow the members of the TAM Fidelidade program to accumulate and redeem points in flights operated by the Belgium company.

The Brussels Airlines passengers who use the Miles & More program already count with this benefit in the TAM flights since February 2008. The new partnership becomes effective on January 20th, 2010.

"We are establishing partnerships with the main air companies of the world to increase the benefits offered to our clients. With Brussels, we are taking another important step towards TAM integration with Star Alliance", says the TAM's Commercial and Planning Vice-President, Paulo Castello Branco.

http://www.ftnnews.com/content/view/8394/27/

I think this proves that SN is more important than some think. Altough TAM is not yet a Star Alliance member they start a nice partnership with SN. Maybe this can mean the start of a non-stop flight between Brussels and Brasil. TAM is still flying two times a day to CDG, I think they can transfer one of the two daily flights to BRU.

[RoMax]

Brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance Company Plus

The most important things that I found in the article. The link for the whole article is below.

Star Alliance Company Plus is pleased to welcome Brussels Airlines as its 11th member. Brussels Airlines is the leading Belgian airline, offering an excellent network for travel to, from and via Brussels, the Capital of Europe.
With the entry of Brussels Airlines into the Star Alliance Company Plus programme, members can choose to depart from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, London-City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester and Newcastle, confirming Star Alliance Company Plus as the leading SME loyalty programme in the UK. In addition to its European network, Brussels Airlines adds a range of African destinations to the Star Alliance Company Plus network.
Brussels Airlines operates 46 conveniently scheduled flights to Africa weekly, connecting 14 business and leisure destinations to Brussels and beyond. Baggage allowance on these destinations is amongst the most generous in the industry at 46 kg in Economy and 64 kg in Business.
Overall, the airline operates 350 flights every day and flies only to premium European airports. Convenient connection schedules at Brussels Airport enable easy transfers for passengers flying via Brussels to other points on the route network.
Star Alliance Company Plus has been designed primarily for SMEs and is the industry’s first corporate incentive scheme by the world’s largest airline alliance. It is an easy to use system, requiring no minimum travel spend to join and there is no cost to join. It is an online self-managed programme, accessible 24 hours a day. It can also be managed by travel agents, who are also welcome to join SACP, on behalf of clients. Every flight with any of the participating airlines earns PlusPoints which can be exchanged for free flights, upgrades, prizes or cash.
Star Alliance Company Plus is available to small and medium enterprises throughout the UK and Ireland. Points can be accumulated when flying with Air Canada, ANA, Austrian, Blue1, Brussels Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, SWISS, TAP Portugal and United.

http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/ ... pany-plus/

[Bralo20]

Star Alliance Company Plus sucks big time...
I've filed 16 tickets last year and all were rejected due a to low booking class...

Onbusiness from BA is a better program

[airbuske]

Already some news about the Austrian codeshare? And maybe Continental? I remember me an article of a few months ago, in that article they mentionned Continental as a possible future partner for US flights. That was some weeks after United anounced their ORD flight (and the partnership with SN). But there was no decision taken yet at that time.

I saw it already yesterday morning and for today also.
SN has put its flight code on the Newark flight of CO

07:50 Newark
Continental Airlines CO060
Voorzien 07:50
British Midland bmi BD6140
Voorzien 07:50
Brussels Airlines SN8006
Voorzien 07:50
United Airlines UA3255
Voorzien 07:50

Mistake or not ?

[tolipanebas]

Mistake or not ?

Definitely NOT a mistake in my view.

From several public sources like the one above, it can be derived SN is indeed going to codeshare on the CO flight to EWR. BTW, the flights also show up in several booking and load checking software programs for this summer, if you play some tricks with the software....

Flight numbers will be SN8005 for the outbound flight to EWR, and SN8006 for the return flight from EWR.

BTW, currently, the JFK flight operated by AA has flightnumber SN8003/SN8004, whereas ORD on AA has SN8001/8002. Wonder if the flightnumber for ORD will be kept, once the route is operated by UA, or whether it will get a new number (supposedly 8007/8008 then)?

[Bralo20]

I saw it already yesterday morning and for today also.
SN has put its flight code on the Newark flight of CO

07:50 Newark
Continental Airlines CO060
Voorzien 07:50
British Midland bmi BD6140
Voorzien 07:50
Brussels Airlines SN8006
Voorzien 07:50
United Airlines UA3255
Voorzien 07:50

Mistake or not ?

Where do you see this? I've checked Galileo, WSpan, Amadeus, Apollo & Sabre and I can't find the codeshare. Also when looking at flightstats.com or other sites I don't see the SN code.

Only on the BRU website this is showing but nowhere else?

[RoMax]

On Airliners.net there are some Americans in the discussion about the changes for SN since their *A membership. And one of these Americans seems to know pretty good that the CO codeshare is ready to announce. SN will codeshare on the EWR-BRU route and CO will codeshare on several European and African destinations. He calls the African destinations the highlights of the codeshare, but he has no idea about the US destinations on wich SN is going to codeshare. So the future US partners of SN will be United and Continental and maybe US Airways will follow in the future. So maybe we can hope for future Houston flights (summer 2011 or something). :p

[Conti764]

On Airliners.net there are some Americans in the discussion about the changes for SN since their *A membership. And one of these Americans seems to know pretty good that the CO codeshare is ready to announce. SN will codeshare on the EWR-BRU route and CO will codeshare on several European and African destinations. He calls the African destinations the highlights of the codeshare, but he has no idea about the US destinations on wich SN is going to codeshare. So the future US partners of SN will be United and Continental and maybe US Airways will follow in the future. So maybe we can hope for future Houston flights (summer 2011 or something). :p

With al due respect to US, but I think two transatlantic codesharing partners should be enough for Brussels Airlines.

Why did they announce it relatively late? A part of the contract with American? Anyway, a nice thing to see that CO and SN are going ot codeshare.

Now this codeshare is in place, it shouldn't take long before CO announces the much speculated second daily flight since even a T7 won't be able to cope with the summer demand. It was barely enough for CO's own operations and there wasn't any codesharing on this flight. And I assume the easy African connections through BRU will bring in some more pax from CO...