SN Brussels' expansion in Africa: it may acquire Camair

[b-west]

Congrats to SN... looks like an important step in the development of the airline... all the best!

[fokker_f27]

It didn't really come as a surprise for me. SN seems only interested in a European and African network. Some routes to the East may be a good next step.

[TWA]

90 days countdown (or less) to the new name of SNV Belgium and Cameroon. I can't wait.

[jan_olieslagers]

90 days countdown (or less) to the new name of SNV Belgium and Cameroon. I can't wait.

You meaning the new name for the SN/VEX merger remained secret until the Cameroon deal was secured? Sounds good! But what's the 90 days?

[Avro]

90 days countdown (or less) to the new name of SNV Belgium and Cameroon. I can't wait.

You meaning the new name for the SN/VEX merger remained secret until the Cameroon deal was secured? Sounds good! But what's the 90 days?

If they will announce the new name of SNV at the same time as the one of the new Cameroon airline I suspect that both airlines will fly under the same brand. And if that's true then I would suspect the name "Sabena" to come back as previously mentioned.

Eventhough I'm not in favor of having a new Sabena, it would be nice to see the great S-Tail surviving.

As for the 90 days, I suspect that they will announce the future plans (new destinations in Africa etc...) and everything at the same time, that's why it will still take 90 days.

just my 2 cents

The countdown starts

Chris

[LJ]

Where it gets interesting is not only in doing BKO/DLA-BRU then spreading to Europe or the way back but also the possibility to do some runs BKO/DLA-PAR/NYC/JNB and all the local connections at BKO/DLA.
By the way, what kind of airport infrasctructure is there at BKO or DLA and what is the most likely hub? I don't think they'd do both but would probably have an link between both.

I doubt DLA will be a good hub unless the visa requirements for Cameroon do not apply to transfer pax (if I'm correct European and US citizens still need a visa to enter Cameroon). Furthermore I doubt that a big hub at DLA is possible as you do need some local traffic to support the feed (you can't feed 6 146s with one A330). However, this is a step in the right direction. Moreover as it makes SNBA more attractive for a possible buyer or alliance (Oneworld would be my favorite candidate).

[SN30952]

BKO, DLA earlier also Benin -partner of BAF- are and were always partenaires previligies of French speaking Belgium.
Now is French speaking Africa, not the best part of Afrca in terms of economic growth. So are some French speaking african countries addressing their situation in English, as recently shown by Rwanda, that brought in american advisors to find the solution on its aviation problems.

One should not ignore that a major economic player in Africa is the East, with Japan, China and soon India. And traffic will shift to those relations.

Last 6 & 7 April, there was in Bamako the first «African Airlines Forum»*. (Yes it was put in English!!!) But you might want to download this interesting files about the AAForum

First conclusion there was:
C’est un véritable paradoxe : fort de ses 850 millions d’habitants, le continent africain ne représente que 4,5 % du trafic aérien mondial.
And the future does not look bright:
Boeing prévoit pour le continent, pour la période 2000-2019, une croissance de l’ordre de 4,8 % par an pour le trafic passagers et de 6,4 % pour le fret.
Note this is for the total of Africa, read S. Africa, Egypt but also the domestic boomers as Nigeria. In other words, in some areas in Africa traffic will even decrease, unfortunately...

The total traffic for Africa in 2004 was 83 million passengers, that is compared to Asia just over 10%...

Here is what the forum a couple of months ago concluded:
Au sein du continent africain, la situation est contrastée selon les régions. Ainsi le nord, le sud et l’est de l’Afrique connaissent des situations meilleures (plus de cinq millions de passagers par an par pays en moyenne) que les régions de l’ouest et du centre composées pour l’essentiel de pays francophones dont le trafic est moindre et ne disposant que de peu d’opérateurs fiables. En Afrique de l’ouest, seuls le Nigeria et le Sénégal dépassent le million de passagers par an.

Note, that is not me saying this, I just quote as is.

Now you would like some figures, number of passengers?
Ok goto Ascena, Les routes du ciel, notre metier and go to the bottom line. (I checked the results, additions are OK in table)
In 2003,
BAMAKO
39 835 passengers in transit
395 444 total passengers
4 491 tons total cargo
DOUALA
84 928 passengers in transit
491 240 total passengers
13 536 tons total cargo

Lets accept that what goes in comes out, than that means for BKO some 200.000 pax, or 540 departing passengers per day, for DLA 672. Note when you fly between BKO and DLO, that are the same passengers... counted once in BKO and once in DLA

Note in the list shown, there is an airport that welcomed the following stat: 31 total passengers, rpt 31, that is one on Jan01, one on Jan02, ... and zero on FEB01!

The number of flights in French speaking Africa (Afrique) for 2003 Latest Stats is
(Courant Nombre de vols)
Intra-Afrique.............. 236 812
Europe-Afrique........... 84 690
Amérique-Afrique........ 4 788
Europe-Amérique........ 21 843
Moyen Orient-Afr......... 4 838
Autres........................ 1 803
TOTAL........................ 354 774

Remark 1: The places are so important for Belgium, that diplo representation is down sized overthere.

Remark 2: You probably know this marketing story. BATA, the shoe producer, long time ago sent marketeers to Africa. They came back with the following conclusions:
a- In Africa they do not wear shoes, so there is a huge market for footwear.
b- In Africa they do not wear shoes, so it is useless to go try to sell shoes there.
The question was, what is the safe decision for the Bata management.

* Do not confuse with The African Aviation Forum A Portal for the African aviation community.

[SN30952]

French speaking Belgium and Afrique.
Something the F-Belgians do is treat the Africains with egards. What egards?
See the evenements of last Saturday.
Le Soir has a ENVOYÉE SPÉCIALE who discribes the killings as follows:
À l'occasion d'une manifestation organisée par le mouvement politico-religieux « Bundu ya Kongo », un militaire a été pris à partie, ce qui a entraîné la violente riposte de ses compagnons, qui ont tiré dans la foule.
The Flemish-Belgian reporter says:
De Congolese politie heeft 15 betogers doodgeschoten in de havenstad Matadi en verloor zelf 3 man.
There is nothing partisan in the last news report. Africains read more than there is said in the french wire. So there will be lots of explanations needed, not why they did it, why it was reported that way*.

The famous "Vivan boema, pataatten en saucissen' episode on the Zaire river announced an end to a relation: The belgian premier and minister of foreign affairs were Flemish and did not appreciate the 'joke', that was a start of re-orientation of the 'cooperation'. The flemish cooperation then diversified its criteria for its action. French speaking Belgium, persists in its line of the unitarian** belgian state. The involvements are different. And this project is in the F-belgian line***.

This is the main reason why I cast doubts about an initiave as this. Apart from: Will the initiative have sufficient financial back-up?
The French (of France that is) will not appreciate such initiative, as their african flagship, Air Afrique foundered.
And why is it that Cam Air got out of business?
The Cameroons did not choose the strongest partner, but the one they think they can control, I'am afraid to say.
One should not forget, that despite a slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of an ethnic oligarchy (the dream of some belgian nobility?) headed by the same president since 6 November 1982, with a cabinet appointed by the same president from proposals submitted by the prime minister.

Having said this, readers will maybe have understood my doubts about the success of the initiative. Understand me well, I have do no doubt about the feasibility of the 51/49 project but about the practicability after.

My doubt is about success of making the Cameroons making a 180 attitude turn.
Cameroon will come with a lot of 'vielle garde', that will sink the project, as it has a top-heavy civil service and a generally unfavourable climate for business enterprise..
Is Cameroon a Charleroi of Africa, I wonder.
And the french-belgian egards of SNBA will have huge problems coping with that.
Exports - partners: Spain 15.1%, Italy 12.3%, UK 10.2%, France 9.1%, US 8.8%, South Korea 7.1%, Netherlands 4.3% (2004) (Belgium not listed, and eveidently under 4%...)
Imports - partners:France 28%, Nigeria 9.9%, Belgium 7.6%, US 4.8%, China 4.8%, Germany 4.6%, Italy 4% (2004) (Check who is involved, pls)

*Stay out or avoid to be involved in local problems, is the adagio for Africa goers..
**Caneroon is an unitary republic.
***Btw, Do we see now why the SNBA-boss left the airline?

[SN30952]

A link to LeMesager refered to: l’offre du consortium First Delta Air Services composé de Sn Brussels Airlines, compagnie aérienne belge et de Cenaivest une société camerounaise de capital risque
(Afrika-kenners* @) Luchtzak know it should be Cenainvest
Central Africa Investment S.A.
CAMEROON - YAOUNDE
Quartier Fouda
PO Box 11838
Phone: +237-793-60 67 Fax: +237-223-32-95

Cenainvest currently has 4 main investors, FMO, Afriland First Bank, EIB and ROVALUE.

FMO?
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.
(Netherlands Development Finance Company)
*Anna van Saksenlaan 71
2593 HW The Hague
The Netherlands P.O. Box 93060
2509 AB The Hague
Telephone +31 (0)70 314 96 96 Fax +31 (0)70 324 61 87
E-mail (general) info@fmo.nl

EIB?
European Investment Bank
European Investment Bank
* 100, boulevard Konrad Adenauer
L-2950 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 43 79 1 Fax: (+352) 43 77 04
* Wetstraat 227
B-1040 Bruxelles / Brussel
Tel: (+32-2) 235 00 70 Fax: (+32-2) 230 58 27

RCA?
Rovalue Capital Africa
Rovalue Capital Africa
Rovalue Capital Holding B.V.
Groot Hertoginnelaan 30
1405 EE Bussum
Rovalue Capital Africa B.V.
*Groot Hertoginnelaan 30
1405 EE Bussum

AFB?
Afriland First Bank
Afriland First Bank
Adresse: place de l'Indépendance, BP 11834, Yaoundé
Tel : (237) 223 30 68/ 223 91 57/ 222 37 34 Fax : (237) 222 17 85/ 223 91 55
Télex : 8907KN Swift : CCEICMCX
Email : firstbank@afrilandfirstbank.com

Read also please: "You have to look at it in the spirit of the local culture,"

You see 2X Netherlands? Me too. And no KLM via KQ, neither do I. Why did they withdrew? Do they know more?

Insiders read:
Samenwerking FMO met Afriland First Bank
De Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) heeft een langdurige samenwerkingsovereenkomst getekend met de Afriland First Bank in Kameroen.

*Voor iedereen die iets met Afrika heeft en Kameroen

[Atlantis]

Good job of SNBA, hope it will works.

But a lot of work to do. I'm curious what kind of destinations, Africa and USA, they will open and what kind of a/c they will order. They spoke about mid and long haul. Some sources speak about a first delivery within two years.

We will see in September or October.

[tolipanebas]

Maybe it would be interesting to speculate about the future fleet of the Cameroon branche of SN as well as their routes?

I suppose they will want to connect DLA with BRU on a daily basis: Currently SN serves Doula only 3 times a week. With no A330 on the horizon for SN (and no A333 available for quick lease either), I think the new African company will have 1 wide-body (possibly a 767) to do DLA-BRU 4 times a week on the days SN does not serve DLA. On the other days, they might operate to CDG.

Further more, they will probably get 5 or 6 of the Bae146 of SN for regional flights of 1 to max 2 hours, connecting the 10 biggest towns around cameroon with DLA on a daily basis, thus creating a regional network.

The network would be timed so the inbound flight from BRU which lands around 16h30 connects to the late afternoon departures from DLA, with the outbound to BRU -departing at 23h30- being fed with late evening arrivals.

Anybody wants to speculate on the most likely destinations from DLA?
I think Cotonou, Lome, (a few towns in Nigeria like Abuja or Lagos for instance) Malabo, Brazaville, Libreville, Kinshasa and of course a domestic flight to Yaounde.

[EBAW_flyer]

The network would be timed so the inbound flight from BRU which lands around 16h30 connects to the late afternoon departures from DLA, with the outbound to BRU -departing at 23h30- being fed with late evening arrivals.

Why not the way it is right now? I mean, an early morning arrival has lots more options than an afternoon departure. You should know how many ex-SNBA pax travel to the states on AA. For short haul there are more destinations in the morning, and if the first one is full or cancelled you can still take another around noon or in the evening. The SNBA African timetable is perfectly timed right now.

[Avro]

The network would be timed so the inbound flight from BRU which lands around 16h30 connects to the late afternoon departures from DLA, with the outbound to BRU -departing at 23h30- being fed with late evening arrivals.

Why not the way it is right now? I mean, an early morning arrival has lots more options than an afternoon departure. You should know how many ex-SNBA pax travel to the states on AA. For short haul there are more destinations in the morning, and if the first one is full or cancelled you can still take another around noon or in the evening. The SNBA African timetable is perfectly timed right now.

Read it once again. It are the timings in Africa not in Brussels.

Chris

[Atlantis]

Maybe it would be interesting to speculate about the future fleet of the Cameroon branche of SN as well as their routes?

I think the new African company will have 1 wide-body (possibly a 767) to do DLA-BRU 4 times a week on the days SN does not serve DLA. On the other days, they might operate to CDG.

Maybe they can take over one of the B767 of KLM. Some of them are going to Aeroflot, I think 4 of them, but all the others are going back to the lessor. Maybe they can refurbish one of those and use it for the African route? Feeder flights from CDG would be a good option, big african communities.

Or, but this is maybe wishfull thinking, they can fly to Johannesburg or Cape town with that wide body. Departing at BRU with pax for Douala and JNB. Tech. stop at Douala and pick up some pax and final dest. JNB. Same situation for the return flight.

[SN30952]

I suppose they will want to connect DLA with BRU on a daily basis: Currently SN serves Doula only 3 times a week. With no A330 on the horizon for SN (and no A333 available for quick lease either), I think the new African company will have 1 wide-body (possibly a 767) to do DLA-BRU 4 times a week on the days SN does not serve DLA. On the other days, they might operate to CDG.

Adding 4/7 PAR, who says they get slots to CDG, even 4/7 ORY would probably puncture the BRU-DLA run.

Kenya Airways returned to Yaoundé recently, second half of June.
Operating a triangle route with Douala on on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
As
KQ504 NBO - NSI: 1945 - 2145
KQ504 NSI - DLA: 2230 - 2310
KQ504 DLA - NBO: 2355 - 615.
Sweeping the market for the M. & F. E. and East Africa.

Last winter Delta cancelled its agreement with SAA.
That ended the codesharing on JNB-DKR-JFK and JNB-SID-ATL.
Delta will fly itself the route with 767/777 aircraft, sweeping quite a lot of that transatlantic market.
SAA continues the (NBO)-DKR-JFK route daily.
SAA will discontinue its Atlanta service and start up a JNB-ACC-IAD.
ORD might be in the pipeline.

SAA plans to sweep West Africa for the shorter transatlanic relations, announcing the end of the European detour, that is an average of 2000km longer than the Africa-America transatlantic product?.

Note that the Air Tanzania - SAA marriage ended, because not acceptable for Tanzania.

About flying a BRU-DLA-CPT/JNB? This a total different yield. The leg DLA-CPT is long (>4300km), it will difficult to replace the offload BRU-DLA by an equal DLA-CPT/JNB upload. Forget that.

And as I mentioned earlier, Sir Richard has plans for Virgin Nigeria to acquire 34 aircraft. By 2010, Virgin Nigeria aims to fly 40 aircraft to 40 destinations with 6,000 staff, making it West Africa’s equivalent of South African Airways. (by 2010? That's 3years...)

As we all know, Nigeria is the country next to Cameroon, Cameroon's largest borderline is with Nigeria (some >1200km). And the cameroonian new airline can be sure that where it flies, Virgin Nigerian will also be. And the Virgins are known to be price fighters.

[LJ]

You see 2X Netherlands? Me too. And no KLM via KQ, neither do I. Why did they withdrew? Do they know more?

Why even bother flying via NBO if AF flies daily from CDG to DLA and 3 weekly to YAO?

[tolipanebas]

who says they get slots to CDG?

Cameroon Airlines DOES have slots at CDG and these will be transferred to the newco just like all other international traffic rights...

Kenya Airways returned to Yaoundé recently, second half of June, operating a triangle route with Douala on on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

I can already image how convenient it must be for somebody to first fly to AMS, then to overfly Cameroon on the way to NBO on Kenyan Airways, then connect back accross half the African continent to the coastal town of Douala and from there back again (second turn around) half accross Cameroon once more to the final destination Yaounde.
I just can't imagine yield being fantastic on this kind of adventurous flight combinations... and the only reason they see connecting pax, is because of lack of more convenient sollutions.

Seriously now, if SN limits the hub in DLA to flights of no more than 1.5 hours and offers a daily non-stop feeder flight from BRU, any journey from a city within 1.5hrs flying time from BRU to any place within 1.5hrs flying time from DLA can not be beaten in travel comfort by a hub outside of this sector, like NBO. NBO is just convenient for EAST african operations really, just like DLA will only be optimal for CENTRAL african ops.

[SN30952]

I can already image how convenient it must be for somebody to first fly to AMS, then to overfly Cameroon on the way to NBO on Kenyan Airways, then connect back accross half the African continent to the coastal town of Douala and from there back again (second turn around) half accross Cameroon once more to the final destination Yaounde.

That is exactly my point, tolipanebas.

Flying to America, why make the detour via Europe.
Flying to Asia, why make the detour via Europe.
Flying to Europe may be made easier... but immigration laws are not the same as they were...

Study the figures I linked, these are not subjective stories, but that is the reality. The better yield will not be on the Europe relations, because there you can expect continuing dillution of the revenue, as the competition will increase, and the volume is already melting down. (Ask Mr Sarkosy what the prospects are...)

they will probably get 5 or 6 of the Bae146 of SN for regional flights of 1 to max 2 hours, connecting the 10 biggest towns around cameroon with DLA on a daily basis, thus creating a regional network.

What are 5 or 6 of the Bae146 of SN for regional flights of 1 to max 2 hours compared to 40 B737 (new ones) of Virgin Nigeria?
What are the 10 biggest towns around Cameroon compared to 40 destinations, by Virgin Nigeria?
Look at Répartition du trafic en route par FIR/TMA (TMAs Douala, Garoua, Yaoundé 35 449) You know what that means? There are an average of less than 100 (97) flights every 24hours crossing that FIR/TMA (Répartition du trafic en route par FIR/TMA) see*

I would call that a challenge: 6 against 40, and 10 against 40, what are the odds?

On the other hand, Cameroon knows that the "only" way to boost the traffic is tourism. But then the Cameroon republic has to forsee more facilitation.
Now what you need is:

TOURIST visa requirements for CAMEROON

1. A passport valid for at least six months.
2. Two completed visa application forms.
3. Two passport-size photos taken within the past six months.
4. $65.20 embassy consular fee.
5. Proof of financial resources such as copy of a recent bank statement.
6. Copy of travel ticket or itinerary.

BUSINESS VISA requirements for CAMEROON

1. A passport valid for at least six months.
2. Two completed visa application forms.
3. Two passport-size photos taken within the past six months.
4. $65.22 embassy consular fee
5. Proof of financial resources , ex. copy of recent bank statement, copy of major credit, etc..
6. International Certificate of Vaccination for Yellow Fever.
7. Copy of flight itinerary or travel ticket.
8. Letter from applicant's company (on company letterhead and signed by someone other than the applicant) addressed to the Cameroon

In fact it cost you some 100 Euro for the paperwork.
Visa nécessaire valable 3 mois (92 €, 2 photos, sous 3 jours) + billet A/R + vaccin contre la fièvre jaune en principe exigés.
A signaler que pour 100 € le visa peut être obtenu dans la journée. Egalement, obligation d'un certificat d'hébergement visé par les autorités compétentes sur place ou de réservations d'hôtels.
En théorie il est aussi possible d'obtenir son visa à l'arrivée aux aéroports internationaux... même si les autorités peuvent parfois s'avérer quelque peu "récalcitrantes" dans ce type de situation.
Quelque soit votre nationalité, vous avez besoin d'un visa d'entrée pour le Cameroun.
La vaccination contre la fièvre jaune est obligatoire (carnet de vaccination demandé à l'arrivée)

Tarifs de base TTC :
Visas Délais d'obtention Frais consulaires
Tourisme <= 3 mois - Simple entrée 5 jrs 92.00 €
Tourisme <= 6 mois - Simple entrée 5 jrs 184.00 €
Affaires <= 3 mois - Simple entrée 5 jrs 92.00 €
Affaires <= 6 mois - Simple entrée 5 jrs 184.00 €
Affaires <= 12 mois - Simple entrée 5 jrs 368.00 €
Enfant - 15 ans et figurant sur le passeport d'un des parents 0.00 €

It's 1 € a day....

And talking about overhead costs* L'effectif des Représentations constitue 85% des effectifs totaux de l'Agence, avec 4532 agents présents en 2002.
Une Représentation emploie 300 personnes en moyenne, un chiffre variant notamment selon l'importance de l'activité aérienne.
There are more staff per day than flights....

[teddybAIR]

Just found this article on the subject:

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provid ... ID=5838078

In short:

- negotiations on the creation of the new airline have to be completed by mid-july
- plans are to develop domestic, regional and international services

regards,
bAIR

[sn26567]

If they will announce the new name of SNV at the same time as the one of the new Cameroon airline I suspect that both airlines will fly under the same brand. And if that's true then I would suspect the name "Sabena" to come back as previously mentioned.

Well no! The name Sabena seems to have been scrapped as a possibility for the new airline(s) according to rumours in SN Airholding.

And isn't "First Delta Air Services" a nice name for the African operations?