Thomas Cook and Brussels Airlines intensify strategic partnership

[airbuske]

Brussels Airlines will fly two weekly to IBZ as from this summer.
Brussels Airlines and Thomas Cook will work together for this flight

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines_press_r ... rtnership/

[Inquirer]

Wow, another route announcement by Brussels Airlines?
They seem to be extremely aggressive as of lately; how many new routes have they launched from BRU this year?

[Boeing767copilot]

Nothing more than a charter for TCB with some available seats, commercialised by SN.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines_press_r ... rtnership/

'Brussels Airlines will launch Ibiza this summer as an eleventh new destination in 2015, with the support of Thomas Cook.'

[OO-ITR]

Nothing more than a charter for TCB with some available seats, commercialised by SN.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines_press_r ... rtnership/

'Brussels Airlines will launch Ibiza this summer as an eleventh new destination in 2015, with the support of Thomas Cook.'

no it is not a full charter flight but a scheduled flight where a number of seats are reserved for Thomas Cook, so a NEW destination...

[RoMax]

Nothing more than a charter for TCB with some available seats, commercialised by SN.

True that (except that it's an official scheduled flight and not a charter), but it's a business on it's own and a successful one for SN, so nevertheles good to hear they are expanding the contract even further. It's only with these kind of contracts that they can serve 4 destinations in Corsica as well
And it's marketed by SN itself as a scheduled flight, so good news for the fly-only travellers that are looking for an alternative for the LCC offer to Ibiza at BRU.

So this is route number 9 after Billund, Zagreb, Bordeaux, Olbia, St. Petersburg, Lourdes, Dubrovnik and Calvi.

How many did they have in 2014, talking about the ones they announced at once? 12 including WAW and KRK or was it 10 including WAW and KRK?

[DannyVDB]

It was 11:
3 - Bari, Montpellier and Cagliaria (dropped this year)
6 - Athens, Malta, Sevilla, Figari, Ajaccio, Bastia (come back as summer destinations)
2 - Krakow and Warsaw (year-around)

Cheers,
Danny

[RoMax]

It was 11:

Oh well, I can't remember everything Thank you for the full overview.

[sn26567]

See the press release: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines_press_r ... rtnership/

Introduction by Geert Sciot, VP Communication, Brussels Airlines

I was at the press conference, and beyond the official press release, there were some interesting figures and bits of information.

Presentation by Lars Redeligx, CCO, Brussels Airlines

Presentation by Jan Dekeyser, CCO, Thomas Cook Belgium

• The ambition of the partnership is to become the number one in the leisure market in Belgium (Not sure Jetair will agree with that!)
• The partnership has already the largest number of destinations out of Belgium
• The partnership is more than Thomas Cook buying seats on SN aircraft: there is now a common strategy to develop new destinations
• The number of SN seats offered by Thomas Cook increases by 25% from 160,000 in 2014 to 200,000 in 2015
• Brussels Airlines will operate 35% more flights for Thomas Cook in 2015 (2700 block hours vs. 2000, most of them in July and August)
• Brussels Airlines has transported approximately 7 million passengers in 2014 (official figures next week); the number of passengers increased by 20% every month since the summer (except December because of the strikes)
• Brussels Airlines has now the lowest cost structure within the Lufthansa Group
• Nevertheless, the partnership offers quality without the stress of low-cost
• A new destination was announced beyond all those previously mentioned: Ibiza, twice a week in July and August
• Three destinations will be served by both airlines: Ibiza, Olbia and Lourdes
• SN will soon introduce a new A320 and two new A319s (the 17th and the 18th), whilst OO-SSP will be retired
• The 12-aircraft strong Avro fleet will be maintained throughout the summer and will be completely retired between the end of 2015 and the end of 2016
• Thomas Cook has no longer allotments on Jetairfly aircraft

Map of the 23 Thomas Cook destinations served by Brussels Airlines (red dots: destinations available for SN customers - yellow hearts: flights exclusively for Thomas Cook customers)

Destinations

[sn26567]

Nothing more than a charter for TCB with some available seats, commercialised by SN.

Not so: Lars Redeligx insisted that the cooperation goes much further than that. There is a common strategy in developing new leisure destinations.