Passenger wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 00:24
You know what I would do if I would work for such a bad employer? I would quit. I would go to a competitor like KLM or Ryanair, who apparently pay sooooo much more and where pressure (werkdruk) is sooooo much lower.
So, the people at Lidl and Carrefour should also quit their job and move to Holland or Germany or whatever and go work there?
Myself, personally, I'm not pro strike. I'm more for work-to-rule options but the thing is, the public doesn't know the details of how it came to this point and neither do you or do I. Apparently, this thing is already going on for more than a year.
The open letter from one of the pilots was expected to backfire. The image of a pilot the public is reduced to overpaid busdriver anyway, so what did they expect to achieve with this letter.
Poiu wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 12:09Belgium is too small for a strong Belgian airline.
Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands are small too, but they have much stronger airlines than Belgium. Thus it's too easy to blame it on the size of the country. Look at KL, the country is only a bit bigger yet they created the largest airport of continental Europe.
sean1982 wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 15:55Politicians should keep their mouth wide shut. A big part of the current situation at SN is by their doing anyway. They had a huge role to play in the bankruptcy of SABENA
According to that logic pilots should keep their mouth shut as well, as they also had a huge role in the demise of Sabena.
Darjeeling wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 12:24Second thing, give me the name of an airline coming from a non-dictatorship or third world country that hasn't conducted industrial actions the last 20 years ? I can only name Southwest.
Look no further than across the border; KL has their last strike in 1995 (I don't call ceasing work for 1 hour a strike and the impact is incomparable to what the SN pilots are trying to achieve).
Third thing, something I've learned with the times, a passenger has a short memory. The more you have him undergone, the more he asks for... AF always records its highest loadfactors the year following a long period of strike. "Never again with xyz airlines" is not something they (the pax) really stick to... money and cheap fares and miles is another thing.
Yet AF with their huge number of strikes has seen it's passenger numbers stagnating for a long time. Last month former KL-group was even bigger than former AF-group.
sn26567 wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 17:10
More surprisingly, these few SN flights are also operating (flights departing until 17:15): SN3765 to Palma de Mallorca (A320), SN3631 to Paris CDG (A320), SN3771 to Alicante (A320), SN3169 to Naples (A319), SN3325 to Hurghada (A320), SN3735 to Malaga (A320), SN3781 to Tenerife (A320). I guess that most of the passengers of these flights are flying with Thomas Cook tickets.
Are these flights operated with SN aircraft and pilots, or with aircraft leased from other companies?
Brussels Airlines gave me the answer: these flights will be operated by SN aircraft and crew to destinations for which it is difficult to find alternatives.
sn26567 wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 17:10
More surprisingly, these few SN flights are also operating (flights departing until 17:15): SN3765 to Palma de Mallorca (A320), SN3631 to Paris CDG (A320), SN3771 to Alicante (A320), SN3169 to Naples (A319), SN3325 to Hurghada (A320), SN3735 to Malaga (A320), SN3781 to Tenerife (A320). I guess that most of the passengers of these flights are flying with Thomas Cook tickets.
Are these flights operated with SN aircraft and pilots, or with aircraft leased from other companies?
Brussels Airlines gave me the answer: these flights will be operated by SN aircraft and crew to destinations for which it is difficult to find alternatives.
It shows at least that the pilots do have some respect for the pax.
Point 5 of that interview drew my attention, but then I forgot to react:
"...SN market share at BRU is too small, specially on l/h..."
Well said, but I would think the way to change that is to add flights, for which you need more aircraft! But in another interview she (or some other LH executive) says no additional l/h aircraft this year. What's the solution then?
In the same interview, she says: "...it is necessary that all busines segments, including short-haul become profitable. The first figures for 2018 look good in that respect..."
That was barely a month ago; since then, on May 4, Davignon mentioned a loss of 26 million. (???)
One of the seven remaining SN scheduled aircraft for today, SN3631 to CDG departed normally, but the return flight is cancelled! Are the A320 aircraft and crew going to visit Paris today?
sn26567 wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 10:10
On the strike front:
One of the seven remaining SN scheduled aircraft for today, SN3631 to CDG departed normally, but the return flight is cancelled! Are the A320 aircraft and crew going to visit Paris today?
Logic, no?
This is a feeder flight, it would be useless to fly 150 passengers to BRU and put them in hotels, whilst unlimited rerouting is available at CDG.
Last edited by Poiu on 14 May 2018, 11:21, edited 1 time in total.
sn26567 wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 10:10
On the strike front:
One of the seven remaining SN scheduled aircraft for today, SN3631 to CDG departed normally, but the return flight is cancelled! Are the A320 aircraft and crew going to visit Paris today?
Poiu wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 12:09Belgium is too small for a strong Belgian airline.
Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands are small too, but they have much stronger airlines than Belgium. Thus it's too easy to blame it on the size of the country. Look at KL, the country is only a bit bigger yet they created the largest airport of continental Europe.
Umm... no? At least not for Austria and Switzerland. Their airlines are both in Lufthansa hands and are allowed to function as long as it serves the needs of the LH Group. Take Austrian for example: they might be a force in Eastern Europe, connecting almost all countries in the region. But they lack longhaul capacity and will face severe difficulties in the upcoming years, due to their ageing 767s urgently needing replacement - and even the recently reinforced 777 fleet will need to be replaced in significantly less than ten years. And while Swiss was "allowed" to get brand new 777s, the answer of Mr. Spohr to this was a flat "no". Keep LH big and the competitors in the own family small - that seems to be the LH philosophy.
Best regards,
Viktor
(Budapest-born, Vienna-raised, Brussels-based)
Poiu wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 12:09Belgium is too small for a strong Belgian airline.
Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands are small too, but they have much stronger airlines than Belgium. Thus it's too easy to blame it on the size of the country. Look at KL, the country is only a bit bigger yet they created the largest airport of continental Europe.
Umm... no? At least not for Austria and Switzerland. Their airlines are both in Lufthansa hands and are allowed to function as long as it serves the needs of the LH Group. Take Austrian for example: they might be a force in Eastern Europe, connecting almost all countries in the region. But they lack longhaul capacity and will face severe difficulties in the upcoming years, due to their ageing 767s urgently needing replacement - and even the recently reinforced 777 fleet will need to be replaced in significantly less than ten years. And while Swiss was "allowed" to get brand new 777s, the answer of Mr. Spohr to this was a flat "no". Keep LH big and the competitors in the own family small - that seems to be the LH philosophy.
Maybe I should have used the word 'stronger' instead of 'much stronger', but my argument that Belgium could have had a much larger flag carrier regardless of it's size still stands. Look at global coverage i.e. with Austrian and Swiss both flying to cities as Los Angeles, Tokyo, Peking and Shanghai. It's also shown by the many pilots and forum members who'd prefer that SN be treated the same way in the LH group as those airlines.
Jetter wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 14:14Maybe I should have used the word 'stronger' instead of 'much stronger', but my argument that Belgium could have had a much larger flag carrier regardless of it's size still stands. Look at global coverage i.e. with Austrian and Swiss both flying to cities as Los Angeles, Tokyo, Peking and Shanghai. It's also shown by the many pilots and forum members who'd prefer that SN be treated the same way in the LH group as those airlines.
I wish for SN to be treated at least as good as LX - not as OS, because that is about the same as SN. Austrian is only allowed to fly to Tokyo because the LH group leadership doesn't want to lose the slots there. Besides, routes policy at Austrian is completely confusing and confused: they announced Tokyo, flew there, hired Japanese-speaking FAs - only to close the route half a year later. Guess which destination they announced a year later? Tokyo! Beijing is a no-brainer, with only CA competing for the VIE-PEK route. LAX was a pleasant surprise, as is CPT.
I generally wished that LH wouldn't threaten SN with merging it completely with EW. Otherwise, you might as well find me protesting together with the SN staff against that.
Best regards,
Viktor
(Budapest-born, Vienna-raised, Brussels-based)
I just read that one of the demands of the pilots is a "clear plan for SN" within the LH Group, and I totally agree. The uncertainty has lasted long enough.
Boavida wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 17:45
I just read that one of the demands of the pilots is a "clear plan for SN" within the LH Group, and I totally agree. The uncertainty has lasted long enough.
Management has promised to disclose such a plan before the end of June. And I agree that it is long overdue!
But I fear that it will not be what would be most logical: a status similar to that of LX and OS. Belgians will be considered as second class citizens compared to Austrians and Swiss; of course: they don't speak German...
This afternoon, La Libre Belgique has interviewed Jean-Jacques Cloquet, CEO of Charleroi Airport (only available through paid subscription). For him, Brussels Airlines does not exist anymore. It is dead since Lufthansa took over 100%. "We made a beautiful baby, but we sold it abroad". And a lot of our aeronautical knowledge is fleeing abroad as well. There will be rationalisations: "Can we trust Lufthansa? Ask Gustin!". Lufthansa will always prefer Germans...
For Cloquet, it is necessary to create a new national airline, operating from all Belgian airports, and Air Belgium could be the first step for it. In the past, when Brussels Airlines was created, Belgian companies did not hesitate to put some money to make it take off. Such a move should be repeated now.
After a very long meeting that lasted until 20:00 tonight, there is still no agreement. This means that the strike will continue this Wednesday, which is also the date set for a new negotiation.
To compound the difficulties today, some Lufthansa flights were severely delayed or cancelled after heavy storm rains in Frankfurt. A lot of stranded SN passengers were supposed to catch these flights to get to their final destination. And there was only one (!) agent at the Lufthansa desk to handle all the LH stranded passengers! Don't blame the SN pilots for this.
sn26567 wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 20:40
To compound the difficulties today, some Lufthansa flights were severely delayed or cancelled after heavy storm rains in Frankfurt. A lot of stranded SN passengers were supposed to catch these flights to get to their final destination. And there was only one (!) agent at the Lufthansa desk to handle all the LH stranded passengers! Don't blame the SN pilots for this.
I won't. But who do you think that the stranded SN passengers will blame: Lufthansa? The weather?
wernerrav4 wrote: ↑14 May 2018, 23:13
What about Tuesday flights? I think it will be a chaos, don't want to be a passenger tomorrow either.
The long-haul flights normally returning to Brussels in the morning will indeed be cancelled: they didn't leave Brussels today. The short- and medium-haul flights are all scheduled.
Excellent article from a man who knows what he is talking about (French only)!
He also wrote some excellent articles about the Sabena bankruptcy. (He did research during 15 years.) http://www.lalibre.be/debats/opinions/g ... f079f86d35
