Belgian Defence to replace its A330 by an A321

[sn26567]

The Belgian Ministry of Defence is preparing the signature of a new lease for a transport aircraft, an Airbus A321, a smaller aeroplane with lower performance than the current A330 used by the army and the government for long distance flights.

The Defence Minister Pieter De Crem has selected this type of aircraft, which typically carries 176 to 200 passengers depending on its configuration, following a tender launched last April for a single-aisle aircraft.

The lease of the current A330 - the only strategic transport aircraft of the Belgian Army which took the delegation led by King Philip in South Africa for the tribute to former South African president Nelson Mandela - from a Portuguese company expires in effect by the end of the year.

The Belgian army has commissioned the rental of the Airbus A330 - a former aircraft of bankrupt Sabena - to ensure air transport long distance and replace two ageing Airbus A310s . Defence had used an innovative formula, which was to rent this Airbus from a civil company, the Portuguese Hi Fly, via a French broker, Avico while retaining its own crews to perform some 2000 hours flight per year for a total of maximum twelve million euros per annum.

But considered too big for the needs of the army, too heavy and too expensive to operate by many airmen, the Airbus A330 has only done 1,165 hours in 2010 and 1,114 hours in 2011, at a cost of 11.6 million for each of those years. The number of hours of flight, however, was higher than 2000 hours in 2013 , with an availability of approximately 99%.

The future favourite aircraft, the A321, will inevitably have less capacity than the current A330 in terms of passengers (270 seats), cargo (45 tonnes) and reach (10,500 km), but will less expensive to operate - about two million euros per year.

One of the arguments that played a role in the choice of a smaller aircraft is the demand for such an aircraft made ​​by the European Air Transport Command (EATC), based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, looking for an aircraft of this size, offering more flexibility and complementarity with the fleets of other Member States (Germany, France , the Netherlands and Spain).

Source: Belgian Aviation News (in French)

[cnc]

this could be very good news for SN

[sn26567]

this could be very good news for SN

Do you mean that SN could be chartered to transport Belgian troops? I have my doubts: most of the time the Defence A330 was flying half empty, or even with only a handful of passengers...

On the other hand, HiFly will have one more A330 to offer for wet-lease, a former Sabena bird. A few years ago, it has been used a couple of times as a reserve aircraft for Brussels Airlines, but not in recent months. Why not anymore?

[airazurxtror]

The Belgian Army chartering planes from Brussels Airlines, that would be an unimpeachable subsidy for SN, and for SN only, this time.

[sn26567]

The Belgian Army chartering planes from Brussels Airlines, that would be an unimpeachable subsidy for SN, and for SN only, this time.

Why didn't any politician think of that yet? Lack of imagination?

[sn26567]

Hi Fly will add its first narrowbody to its fleet of five A330s, five A340s and an A310-300 in February. According to Skyliner Aviation, the jet is an ex-Onur Air A321-200, CS-TRJ (cn 1004), which is currently in storage in Dublin Int'l.

The aircraft will be deployed to the Belgian Air Component where it will replace a HiFly A330-300, CS-TMT (cn 96).

Source: ch-aviation

[FlightMate]

Let's force the King to travel to New-York every week, on a SN aircraft, leased by the air force

[Bralo20]

According to Skyliner Aviation, the jet is an ex-Onur Air A321-200, CS-TRJ (cn 1004), which is currently in storage in Dublin Int'l.

The plane is owned by ILFC, was build in 1999 and flew for Aero Lloyd before it went to Onur Air. First flight was in april 1999 which makes the plane nearly 15yo. Current configuration is 220Y high density layout.

[Airbus A330]

For how many hours a year will it be?

[cnc]

The Belgian Army chartering planes from Brussels Airlines, that would be an unimpeachable subsidy for SN, and for SN only, this time.

it happens all over the world
DL & AA don't make a fuzz about the large amount of flights UA performs for the US army and the money they gain by doing so...
nothing to stop other airlines from belgium to make a bidding.
i really don't get your point, you defend an airline living of all sorts of subsidies and then go on the crusade if an other airline is making an attempt to get some subsidies

[golf1411]

Picture in Dublin:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/n707pm/11227824033/

[cathay belgium]

Hi,
A bad decision in my toughts, too small, no range... Useless or ridicoulous...
Anyone a guess already on the new livery ?
Again a belgian flag line above? Belgian air component? Or just plain white again with a sticker of the emblem?
DiRupo's air force one can have some nice logo imo, like air force dehollande or merkelfly !
Why not working with the dutch for troop transport and have a real good plane with range?

Argh..

CXB

[Flanker2]

Dear Cathay, it's not efficient to transport 10-50 troops or delegations on an A330.
The Belgian airforce also has the more suitable C130 for the transport of troops.
I trust they know what their average load and mission lengths are and that their decision is based on that.

When fighting wars abroad with NATO or other coalitions, Belgium as a small country has seldom needed to send thousands of troops. In addition, they still have the options to charter aircraft, fly along with coalition flights. In an all-in war situation, they have the power to seize any Belgian aircraft for defense use.

1000 or 2000 hours per year don't seem much but it's actually a lot for an aircraft. In 2013, the A330 was flying on average more than 6 hours a day. If you imagine that most of those flights were less than half full, you realise that it's too much aircraft.

I think that an A321 is more than enough to transport De Crem and his ego.
Versus a A333, they will go from 280 to 200 seats, while saving 50% on fuel.
On a handful of missions, they will be required to make an additional stop, so what?

Don't forget that the numbers mentioned for the wetlease do not include the fuel that also needed to be paid! Over 2000 hours per year, that's another 10 million.

This is the government being responsible, so it should be applauded. Bravo!

[cathay belgium]

Flanker,

Like you mentioned yourself.. the A330 is too much, maybe the A321 is better incl. stops... but once you really need an aircraft like this for the main reason you needed it, it can't do the job...
( altough it seems you like this narrowbody operations to Congo :p )
But I think an A321 is no meat nor fish... how can you use that aircraft for 'bFast help interventions, way too small and quite ridicoulous with the necessary stops',...
Maybe for the cremmie a larger Embraer would have done the same, so you could have exclude that privates also..
C130 for troop transport more suitable ? Ever flown in a C130 Flanker ??
Don't think you can transport your troops in that for 8 hours and think they are prepared for duty immediately... this is a real cattle-flight.. pity for our troops, you can use them for delivery on the playing field but for troop transport ?
As belgian is too small for a big plane co-operation was a better thing..; the dutch have KDC10, so let them deal with the big planes , and jets... and let belgium play A400M and NH90 on both sides of the border...
So I still see the air component in this way in a few years.. let the benelux again the smart idea for the bigger european picture.. we will get there anyway once....
10-50 pax , a 'bought e190' will do and more...
A321, I still can't see the picture... but guess this idea was driven by the lack on money then on reasonble toughts... like many times in these days..

CXB

[Boavida]

Why only 1 plane to replace the A330? In the 'old' days there were 2 A310's. More than 1 plane gives you better flexibility and reliability. If this A321 has a technical issue, there is no backup...

[cathay belgium]

Why only 1 plane to replace the A330? In the 'old' days there were 2 A310's. More than 1 plane gives you better flexibility and reliability. If this A321 has a technical issue, there is no backup...

In case you didn't noticed our government is running out of cash...
The A321 was probably the cheapest thing they found, for doing some business... not the business...
You can call it a typical belgian solution, we have something that flies now ( altough if it operated by Onur Air ).. if there is a problem we look at a solution by then, guess HiFly will have always some nice back-up plane in the area, guess BRU is a bit 'home-base' for HiFly nowadays...

And BTW .. the old A310 are still on the other side of the runway... why is that?
Scrap them... why holding so many place for that many years?
Make a nice café of them, or a kindergarten..., a school , a musea...

CXB

[Flanker2]

But I think an A321 is no meat nor fish... how can you use that aircraft for 'bFast help interventions, way too small and quite ridicoulous with the necessary stops',...
Maybe for the cremmie a larger Embraer would have done the same, so you could have exclude that privates also..
C130 for troop transport more suitable ? Ever flown in a C130 Flanker ??

Dear old Cathay. Unwillingly, you provided the best example.
BFast is a team of around 50 people plus supplies. The A321 is the right size for those missions. For the Philippines, they took some guys from France along for the ride, just to stuff the A333.
For the Bfast team, a smaller aircraft is actually better. The problem in this case is the shear size of the A333, which often poses problems: runway/parking problems, damaged or no loading/unloading facilities, damaged runways.
In The Philippines, the B-Fast team were stuck for several days and the supplies even longer because the A333 could not land at the airport where they needed it. They were ferried there by C130's... oh irony.
Even narrowbodies could not land at first, but they were eventually released.

The C130 is the troop transport by definition.
Yes, I've flown in a C130, it's loud and it's a stupid bench where you sit on. It's a warplane, it's not designed to be comfortable.
But the C130 is only meant for shorter flights, or longer flights with aerial refuelling if there is a urgency (if equipped), in a real troop transport mission or such as in Philippines where damaged runways require such aircraft.

As for long distance flights, most military forces including the biggest in the world, the U.S., tend to charter commercial aircraft instead of operating them themselves.
An A321 can fulfill that role perfectly for a small country like Belgium, don't you think?
And even if someday they need something like an A330 because of a big emergency, they have the power to seize or charter any aircraft suitable for that role... I think that in that optic they also willingly/strategically choose aircraft that are also operated by the biggest airline in the country.

I think that there isn't much room for criticism here. They are making a wise choice. Much better than those ex-SQ A310's that had problem after problem and could never be dispatched when needed.

[FlightMate]

Cathay, how is sitting in a 330 better than sitting in a 321, if seats are the same? (not sure they are, but why wouldn't they)

A midway stop on long destinations would save fuel on an A330. So no big deal here on an A321. What's an hour turnaround from time to time?

The A321 would be able to land where the A330 cannot.

It is a good choice, I think.

Or they could have gone 737bbj or a319lr if they really needed the range vs the payload.

They could as well add a falcon or similar business jet for very small delegations, when they need it. Maybe for less than the cost of leasing the A330.

[Flanker2]

One more detail I forgot to mention. Belgium is receiving several Airbus A400M's in a few years, so there you have your troop transport. That aircraft will also be more suitable for B-Fast missions.
Found you a pic in the 116 "pax" layout.

http://www.airteamimages.com/pics/160/160153_800.jpg

[BrightCedars]

What this country really needs is an ACJ or BBJ, or an agreement with SN to provide suitable lift when required.

Financing a purchase over several years won't cost that much and it will add worth in the books.

An agreement will of course need to go via tender these days and that can be the main sticking point, although you could specify BRU based with both short haul and long haul capacity and that already narrows it down to just 2 potential bidders.