This is what I found on De Standaard. It referes to an article in the FET. Does anyone have more info if this is true. Or are this just rumours?
BRUSSEL - Virgin Express heeft SN Air Holding, de moedermaatschappij van SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA), gepolst om opnieuw te praten over samenwerking. Dat schrijft de Financieel Economische Tijd
In het voorjaar van 2002 mislukten fusiegesprekken tussen de twee belangrijkste luchtvaartmaatschappijen op Zaventem.
Volgens de krant overweegt SNBA-topman Rob Kuijpers ook een overname van Birdy Airlines, waarmee SNBA nu samenwerkt voor vluchten op Afrika.
I can only comment on the Birdy Airlines aspect.
It is public knowledge that the contract between SNBA and Birdy Airlines ends on October 31 2004. What is not yet known and probably still under discussion is the way the transfer of activity will happen. And there are lots of rumors.
Normally the final decision should be announced end of october this year in order to be ready on time and prepare a smooth transition.
I don't know if SNBA will then have to star on scratch for CATIII and ETOPS authorizations. Actually aircrafts and crews are CATIII/B and 120min ETOPS but it took 3 to 6 months of testings and paper work to reach that. Etops is not that critical on African network; it sure saves fuel and money on certain routes but it would be very important should SNBA wish to operate on the Atlantic in a near future. As for the CATIII/B landing facility; well SNBA will star his operations during the winter season and all the flights coming back are landing between 0600 and 0800 local. The worst is to fear if we are unlucky with the fog.
I don't know if SNBA will then have to star on scratch for CATIII and ETOPS authorizations
Dear bravo767,
Thanks for the usefull comments. Can you give us an overview of the different categories and necessary authorizations? Do you know where we can find more information about this?
To the best of my knowledge, CATII/CATIII, RVSM and ETOPS authorizations are delivered by the country CAA following JAR and their own requirement. Those authorizations are delivered for a specific company, specific aircraft and qualified crews. The fastness is depending also on the company experience in those matters and the quality of the maintenance. For example: for CATIII, the BCAA required the records of several autoland performed by each aircraft.
In the Birdy case, the company started ab-initio despite the fact that those aircrafts were previously operate by SN, that the maintenance was still SN and that most of the pilots were ex SN and qualified!!.
For ETOPS we rapidly obtained 75 min (if I remember correctly) and after a good 2 months we upgraded to 90min. We continued later to obtain 120 min which is more than enough for the African network. For info a release has to be signed by an authorized ground engineer before each leg and specifying that the A/C is ETOPS. For info the max Etops is 180min but that requires additional (costly) checks and it is not necessary for the actual network.
More informations can be obtained via a technical pilot or directly at the BCAA.
CATIII/B means cealing:0ft visibility:75m subject to airport equipment and state authorization!! Belgium is vis:125m!!
ETOPS means operating a twin engine aircraft at more than 60 min from any airport. There are several conditions to be met regarding the aircraft equipment as well as the airport equipment, facilities and weather.
So my question still is: Does SNBA have to start from scratch again?
The news on the SNBA/VEX collaboration was again on the news today (Radio 1). I did not write down the words literally, but they said:
- SNBA and VEX are informally talking about a merger again
- The talks were on demand of a major Bank
- VEX confirmed the talks
- SNBA did not want to comment yet ...
My question: which bank??? Why is this not an initiative from the SNBA holding in which banks are represented ...??? Is it based on an evaluation???
The bank is NOT a shareholder of SN Airholding. It is an international investment bank. This is confirmed in a press release issued by Virgin Express yesterday (see their website or Luchtzak's latest news later today).
