Rumour: Northwest starting atlantic service to BRU with B757

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 26 May 2006, 21:36

There is an interesting topic on airliners.net which states that Northwest will retrofit 10 of its B757-200's with winglets. Those will then start to make flights across the atlantic to several destinations and among them a Detroit- Brussels flight.

Those are the rumoured routes:

EWR-AMS double daily
DTW-AMS
DTW-SNN
DTW-DUB
DTW-MAN
DTW-BHX
DTW-BRU
AMS-BDL

I don't know the source and don't know the credibility, but it seems that this plan might be correct.

Can anybody with access to the BRU information tell us if NW already filed a DTW-BRU flight ?

Oh and BTW they are to retrofit them as from december 2006 with the first flight probably for the start of the next summer season.

Cheers
Chris

nwa757 · Post by **nwa757** » 26 May 2006, 23:07

That would be great! It would be good use of those 752s that are in storage right now.

I wonder if NW would put the new World Business Class in those planes, or leave them in the domestic configuration?

DannyVDB · Post by **DannyVDB** » 26 May 2006, 23:35

Would be great to see them here ...

Where are they flying nowdays?

Danny

DannyVDB · Post by **DannyVDB** » 26 May 2006, 23:36

I mean Transatlantic of course ...

Danny

Post by **airbuske** » 27 May 2006, 00:09

DannyVDB wrote:

I mean Transatlantic of course ...

Danny

Detroit-Frankfurt,
Detroit-London,
Detroit-Rome,
Detroit-Paris,
Detroit-Amsterdam

Boston-Amsterdam

Minneapolis-Amsterdam,
Minneapolis-London

Seattle-Amsterdam

Memphis-Amsterdam

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 27 May 2006, 00:17

IF true, this would be great news. After Continental (which now flies a 757 daily to AMS), we could now also see NWA flying those slim machines to Europe !

Who knows, maybe AA might do the same thing. If I am not mistaking they allready have wingletted 757s, but do they use them for transatlantic routes ?

Anyway, great to see the 757 might become more common here in Europe !

Greetz,

Andries

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 27 May 2006, 11:40

Good idea! Since there is no direct connection yet between Detroit and Brussels. But, it's not confirmed yet, isn't it? Would be nice to see something else then 767 in BRU tough.

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 27 May 2006, 11:44

Maybe that's the gap in the market those days. It looks like an exact copy of Continental, but with another hub!

Harry-Spotter · Post by **Harry-Spotter** » 27 May 2006, 12:48

That is great news, I think that a 757 with winglets looks great, I'd love to see them in BRU. Are Continental and AA likely to follow? And is there a lot of money to make out of the DTW-BRU segment?
cheers

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 27 May 2006, 13:05

I doubt CO and AA will follow this example. Don't forget CO is flying a B764 on the Belgian market. But CO could start an evening flight with a B757.

This "would" indeed good news. But we have to be careful because nothing is confirmed by the airline itselfs. On Airliners.net no source was mentioned.

But yes, a fifth American airline would be nice at BRU.

If we see on the BIAC site "job opportunities: Northwest" we are also certain they will come.

ehamspotter · Post by **ehamspotter** » 27 May 2006, 13:10

Hello;

WAAAW, that would be great!!!!

:jump2:
Finally something new from America!

rgds:Jeroen

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 27 May 2006, 13:16

Atlantis wrote: But we have to be careful because nothing is confirmed by the airline itselfs. On Airliners.net no source was mentioned.

Indeed that's why I asked if someone knows whether NW filed for some DTW-BRU flights.....

Chris

Post by **airbuske** » 27 May 2006, 13:30

Atlantis wrote:Don't forget CO is flying a B764 on the Belgian market. But CO could start an evening flight with a B757.

I've read that the EWR - BRU is one of CO best european destinations.
Not always a high LF but high yields.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 27 May 2006, 13:40

I wonder if SNBA will code-share on this flight or not...

Post by **sn26567** » 28 May 2006, 10:44

fokker_f27 wrote:Good idea! Since there is no direct connection yet between Detroit and Brussels...

... since Sabena stopped flying the route!

Post by **sn26567** » 28 May 2006, 10:45

sab319 wrote:I wonder if SNBA will code-share on this flight or not...

Certainly not! The wrong alliance!

Robin_Bamps · Post by **Robin_Bamps** » 28 May 2006, 11:10

sn26567 wrote:
fokker_f27 wrote:Good idea! Since there is no direct connection yet between Detroit and Brussels...
... since Sabena stopped flying the route!

This sounds interesting, but...

Question 1 : When has Sabena stopped flying the route ? I have the timetables from 2000 and 2001 in my collection and at that time there wasn't a direct BRU-DTW flight anymore.

Question 2 : Why has Sabena stopped flying the route ? Was that because of the route strategy of the SR management ? Or was the competition from the KL/NW alliance with about 4 daily flights (ca. 1000 chairs) at the nearby AMS hub (only 200km from BRU) too strong, resulting in low loadfactors ?

I would doubt if NW opens a flight to BRU because it would mean direct competition against the hub at AMS (when the Belgian passengers now flying BRU-AMS-DTW disappear, it would mean a loss of passengers for KLM on the BRU-AMS flights, and KLM is NW's biggest partner). But still I'm curious to see how this rumour will turn out eventually.

Regards, Robin Bamps.

ATC · Post by **ATC** » 28 May 2006, 13:39

sab319 wrote:
I wonder if SNBA will code-share on this flight or not...

Certainly not! The wrong alliance!

Since when does SNBA officially jointed an alliance ?

Their current strategy... codeshare with almost everything that comes into BRU.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 28 May 2006, 18:47

Robin_Bamps wrote: Question 2 : Why has Sabena stopped flying the route ? Was that because of the route strategy of the SR management ? Or was the competition from the KL/NW alliance with about 4 daily flights (ca. 1000 chairs) at the nearby AMS hub (only 200km from BRU) too strong, resulting in low loadfactors ?

I would doubt if NW opens a flight to BRU because it would mean direct competition against the hub at AMS (when the Belgian passengers now flying BRU-AMS-DTW disappear, it would mean a loss of passengers for KLM on the BRU-AMS flights, and KLM is NW's biggest partner). But still I'm curious to see how this rumour will turn out eventually.

Regards, Robin Bamps.

I can follow you till a certain point. But, we are speaking here about one single destination. I don't think AMS and specially KLM/NW will hurt that mutch.

But, there is also an other thing. When bigger airlines announce a list of new possible destinations, more then 50% will not be flown, its just to see what competition will do.

BrightCedars · Post by **BrightCedars** » 28 May 2006, 21:34

If NW open a BRU-DTW direct (nonstop) service by Boeing 757-200 it means that they have figures showing there are enough passengers to feed the service directly to/from Brussels rather than via AMS. They are in a strategic alliance with KL and that will not change.

Why would it make sense to operate a daily 757 BRU-DTW?

- Most passengers flying BRU-AMS-DTW are going further than DTW, except maybe for some at the front of the cabin;
- Those passengers in the front of the cabin will definitely appreciate a direct (nonstop) service. Those at the back will more likely choose the option of 1 hub hop (DTW) over 2 hub hops (AMS & DTW) (so will also those at the front).
- The 757 out of BRU is not possible out of destinations further East due to range and payload restriction of the aircraft. This operation would thus free up capacity for passengers coming from those destinations still via AMS (or CDG), possibly at better thru fares. Less dillution of the fare in/out of BRU would bring the station more revenue.

I think it makes perfect sense to operate a 757 to BRU daily from DTW if you're NW. Looking forward to it! Now I do hope the cabin will be up to standard front and back (à la CO).

And no, I don't see SN codesharing on this flight. Probably they wouldn't mind as they sleep with anything that has a pair of wings, but NW and the broader Skyteam alliance wouldn't find it suitable (at least until SN joins them).