5th A330 for Brussels Airlines

[Atlantis]

Indeed in their "fresh" press release you can find that they approved their 5 A330. Later information about routes will follow. I suppose they wait for the routes because of AF, when AF don't know where they will fly they can't defend theirself at time.

Indeed, that's why it is very wise of SN to wait very long before announce a new route to Africa.

[airbuske]

As I said in a previous topic, a/c will come from Asian carrier...

Will it be the A330 wit MSN095 now operated by Malasia Airlines ?

[brusselsairlinesfan]

... and when will this bird come into service?!

[flip330]

As I said in a previous topic, a/c will come from Asian carrier...

Will it be the A330 wit MSN095 now operated by Malasia Airlines ?

Dear Airbuske,
can you tell us how you received such information, or were did you found it, as it is quite specific ...

[HighInTheSky]

As I said in a previous topic, a/c will come from Asian carrier...

Will it be the A330 wit MSN095 now operated by Malasia Airlines ?

And we have a winner

Don't know how you found this one, but nice work :clap:

[Vinnie-Winnie]

If it is that one, We can say that it has already had a long career:

04/05/1995 LTU D-AERJ lsd ILFC

06/05/1997 Skyservice C-FBUS lsd ILFC

13/11/2000 Airtours C-FBUS

18/01/2001 Garuda C-FBUS lsd from Airtours

25/02/2001 Airtours C-FBUS

30/04/2001 Skyservice C-FBUS

30/10/2001 Airtours C-FBUS

23/04/2002 SkyService C-FBUS

14/09/2002 My Travel Airways C-FBUS

20/04/2003 SkyService C-FBUS

17/05/2004 Malaysia Airlines 9M-MKR lsd from ILFC

[NCB]

Former long time charter with half a decade of history flying short haul/high cycle ops? Surely it was the bargain of the year from Mr. Hazy because no one else would want to pick up such a piece of old junk.
Sabena Technics is going to be very happy with this addition.

SN didn't really have a choice, I guess? It was probably this or nothing and perhaps it's not that bad as an interim solution, especially for Africa.

Congrats to SN for proving me wrong (about the 5th A333 being just PR).

[BrightCedars]

I guess the frame will have to go thru some refurb before it is applied the SN livery (or Star?). Do we know what the engines are on this baby? 5 A330s, now that's looking better and better. Adding the 4th was a whopping 33% increase, adding the 5th was a substantial 25%, adding this one will be a solid 20% increase, but adding the next one will be half the weight than adding the 4th was (16.6%). In all this will mean that SN will have doubled its long haul fleet in a rather short timespan and on a tight budget. They must be doing some things right.

Now do another right thing and put that A319 onto BEY, will you!

[Bralo20]

Do we know what the engines are on this baby? 5 A330s, now that's looking better and better.

Pratt & Whitney 4168

[sn26567]

Now do another right thing and put that A319 onto BEY, will you!

What would be the load factor on that one? If you tell me 100% on a daily flight, I'm sure it will start tomorrow.

[b720]

concerning BEY, if the flights to and from BEY connect with SN flights to Africa and their flight to CDG..SN can fill A319 to BEY (3x weekly) and can go to daily x mas period and june-sep

[tolipanebas]

I guess the frame will have to go thru some refurb before it is applied the SN livery (or Star?)

Indeed, the plane will have to be modified to SN standards first, but SN has done so before with the ex-Air Madrid plane (now OO-SFW), which incidentally (or not) was of exactly the same modification standards as this bird as that one too was purpose built for LTU!

The reason this plane is leaving its current fleet, despite being the youngest addition to it, is because it is an odd-bird out there, not really suited to fly short routes in Asia (as it is not equipped with brake cooling fans on the main wheels unlike the rest of its fleet), something which they could have expected, as the plane was purpose built for long haul charter flights (see the list of previous operators).

For the rest, it will be a nice addition to the SN fleet; now let's hope the technical details get sorted out soon, so it can come to BRU!

[fretn]

Any ideas if it will be equipped with PTV's? Which would greatly enhance the inflight product!

[BrightCedars]

Any ideas if it will be equipped with PTV's? Which would greatly enhance the inflight product!

I would highly doubt that. I'm pretty sure this will come around when SN replaces the A330 fleet with an all-new type as part of a much broader LH deal in the future.

The luxury of retro-fitting PTV's to a single A330 in fleet (it would then make sense to update all airplanes) and the minimal return that can be expected from this doesn't vote in favor of a heavy investment.

As for BEY, I do indeed believe that SN can extract a good yield on this destination, especially since most tickets now include a large part of transfer tax at a third airport, which SN could pocket if it were to offer a nonstop service. There are dozens of people every week flying between BE and LB and hundreds around all school holiday periods. A 2-weekly service is enough to begin with, mid-week and week-end.

If you notice, it's very rare that you'll see special offers on BEY in the emails you get from AF, LH or the like. And there is a good reason for that.

[taz001]

I guess the frame will have to go thru some refurb before it is applied the SN livery (or Star?)

Indeed, the plane will have to be modified to SN standards first, but SN has done so before with the ex-Air Madrid plane (now OO-SFW), which incidentally (or not) was of exactly the same modification standards as this bird as that one too was purpose built for LTU!

Now this is just a rumour I heard, but nevertheless maybe worth checking out. Appearantly the business class seats that are installed on the 4 A330 at this moment were some kind of 'sales'. The rumour I heard was that they are not available anymore and thus they cannot be installed on the 5th bird... Can someone confirm this? Or is this just euh... b*llsh*t?

[RoMax]

I remember me an article in 2006. It was an article about the new business seats in the A330's (then only 3) and than they said the seats will be replaced after 3-4 years because the seats will be not up to date anymore. These 3 years are over now, so maybe they will place some new seats in their A330's? I remember me the costs of the retrofit at that time, for the 3 A330's it was something around the €30 milion.

[euroflyer]

I do think you can forget new seats for the A330-fleet (is 5 already a 'fleet' now ? ). On those items LH certainly has a very conservative approach, look how long it took them to start to introduce PTVs on long-haul in eco. If the costs would be really something like 30 million €, how on earth can you explain that so many additional pax will fly with SN long-haul to Africa in the next, lets say 5 years, just because of those new seats to generate the additional profit to pay back 30 million plus capital costs? Seems rather impossible for me.

[fretn]

I do think you can forget new seats for the A330-fleet (is 5 already a 'fleet' now ? ). On those items LH certainly has a very conservative approach, look how long it took them to start to introduce PTVs on long-haul in eco. If the costs would be really something like 30 million €, how on earth can you explain that so many additional pax will fly with SN long-haul to Africa in the next, lets say 5 years, just because of those new seats to generate the additional profit to pay back 30 million plus capital costs? Seems rather impossible for me.

i know it costs lots of money, but in my opinion it's worth it!
everyone i know of non-aviation enthousiasts will like a plane with 'tv's' more than one without anything, it gives it a more modern feel.
Or atleast put powerports in the seats...

[Vinnie-Winnie]

The reason this plane is leaving its current fleet, despite being the youngest addition to it, is because it is an odd-bird out there, not really suited to fly short routes in Asia (as it is not equipped with brake cooling fans on the main wheels unlike the rest of its fleet), something which they could have expected, as the plane was purpose built for long haul charter flights (see the list of previous operators).

What are brake cooling fans and what are they used for? Why is the lack of them beneficial to a charter operator, but not to a schedule operator? Does SN need them or can it do without?

[LX-LGX]

Former long time charter with half a decade of history flying short haul/high cycle ops? Surely it was the bargain of the year from Mr. Hazy because no one else would want to pick up such a piece of old junk.
Sabena Technics is going to be very happy with this addition.SN didn't really have a choice, I guess? It was probably this or nothing and perhaps it's not that bad as an interim solution, especially for Africa.

Actually - and if it's indeed this one - the history of this planes looks good. One owner (ILFC), three users (LTU, SkyService Canada, Malaysia Airlines). All reliable companies. But then, I must admit that contrary to some posters here, that I have not seen the plane's logbook. Example: sublease to Airtours: before concluding 'shorthaul, old junk', we should know the history, don't we?

Congrats to SN for proving me wrong (about the 5th A333 being just PR).

Wisdom comes with the years. Specially in aviation.