Lufthansa buys the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Brussels Airlines intégrée à Eurowings, mais pas avant 2018

La compagnie aérienne allemande Lufthansa veut rassembler au moins une partie de la flotte de sa filiale Brussels Airlines avec son entité à bas coûts Eurowings, a confirmé jeudi Karl Ulrich Garnadt, administrateur à Lufthansa et responsable pour Eurowings.

Il a ajouté au cours d'un briefing de presse que la situation allait être inchangée à Bruxelles au moins jusqu'en 2018.

Le conseil de surveillance de Lufthansa a donné son feu vert mercredi à la reprise totale de Brussels Airlines. L'objectif est d'arriver à un accord autour des modalités d'ici la fin de l'année avec les actionnaires belges, de manière à ce que Lufthansa puisse reprendre début 2017 les 55% d'actions qu'elle n'a pas encore en mains.

La compagnie belge sera ensuite intégrée à Eurowings, a confirmé jeudi M. Garnadt. Rien ne devrait toutefois changer avant 2018 et même une éventuelle appellation n'a pas encore été décidée. L'administrateur a ajouté que Brussels Airlines avait les coûts opérationnels les plus faibles au sein du groupe Lufthansa

Selon le directeur d'Eurowings, Jörg Beißel, au moins 38 des 49 appareils de Brussels Airlines conviendraient parfaitement au modèle Eurowings.

Ces avions, ajoutés aux 35 appareils qui seront loués auprès d'Air Berlin, permettront à Eurowings de considérablement renforcer sa flotte qui compte actuellement 90 appareils.

Le gouvernement négociera un ancrage belge

Par ailleurs, le gouvernement fédéral s'invitera à la table des négociations sur la reprise de la compagnie aérienne, a indiqué jeudi le Premier ministre Charles Michel en réponse à des questions à la Chambre. Il veillera à garantir "l'ancrage" belge, l'emploi et la présence en Belgique d'un "centre de décision", a-t-il indiqué.

Le moment est "délicat" eu égard au rôle de Bruxelles, au rôle de la Belgique, a admis le Premier ministre, mais il peut également constituer une "opportunité", celle du "renforcement du rôle de Bruxelles dans une grande compagnie".

M. Michel a également souligné que la politique aéroportuaire figurerait, à travers le volet mobilité, au coeur du pacte d'investissement qu'il défend, avec les entités fédérées.

Le gouvernement fédéral sera présent à la table des négociations à travers la société fédérale de participations et d'investissement (SFPI), qui détient des parts dans Brussels Airlines.

Source: http://trends.levif.be/economie/entrepr ... 56563.html

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT... HORRIBLE NEWS!!!!!!!!!

[Passenger]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT... HORRIBLE NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a Dafalgan, go to bed early, and maybe you will understand tomorrow that today's statements about Eurowings are just another chapter of the ongoing negociations between Lufthansa and SN Airholding.

(and switch off CAPS please).

[Jetter]

another Belgian airline will have been f***ed (sorry) through incompetence and naiveness of (mostly) Belgian shareholders.

Obviously the shareholders were incompetent when they made a deal that allows LH to take SN over for almost nothing. That's bad for their own financials, but how is another Belgian airline f***ed? With Sabena there was much to lose because Belgium had an airline that was punching above it's weight considering the importance of the airline and the size of its home-market (like KL still is). But what's there to lose now? Does it really matter if it says Brussels Airlines or Eurowings on the fuselage? Besides Afrika the BRU network can't get much worse, as almost all destinations are justified by just O&D.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT... HORRIBLE NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a Dafalgan, go to bed early, and maybe you will understand tomorrow that today's statements about Eurowings are just another chapter of the ongoing negociations between Lufthansa and SN Airholding.

(and switch off CAPS please).

Sorry... emotional epidermic reaction

[JustPlanes]

Really too bad that no one learned the Swissair lesson and are now giving the airline away to Lufthansa...
Highly doubt Lufthansa is very interested in SN like they are in Swiss....
Perhaps an occasion for Jetairfly to become the Belgian airline and start some serious expansion, perhaps a venture with Air Belgium for the Asia routes...

[sean1982]

Really too bad that no one learned the Swissair lesson and are now giving the airline away to Lufthansa...
Highly doubt Lufthansa is very interested in SN like they are in Swiss....
Perhaps an occasion for Jetairfly to become the Belgian airline and start some serious expansion, perhaps a venture with Air Belgium for the Asia routes...

They didnt have much of choice didnt they? It was take the LH deal or go bust. At that time SN was nothing more than an empty box and they should be really grateful that LH kept their head above the water for so long. For MANY people within the industry the integration into EW/germanwings (at the time) was a story we had see coming for the last 2-3 years, otherwise I wouldnt have defended my opinion so ferocisouly. At least some of us didn't have their black-yellow-red beer goggles on when writing an opinion.

[Bralo20]

Perhaps an occasion for Jetairfly to become the Belgian airline and start some serious expansion, perhaps a venture with Air Belgium for the Asia routes...

What Jetairfly? Jetair doesn't exist anymore, another Belgian airline that's gone.

[Yuqu12]

38 out of 49 planes would fit in the EW model according to LH. That means all A319's, A320's and Avro's go to EW. Which would leave SN with A330's and Dash8's, but that's an illogical combination.

The avro's won't go to EW. All the avro's are wet lease and the last contracts end next year. The DWF, DWG, DWH are gone, DWI is supposed to follow this month (and I think he's retired, cause there were no flights with this plane since 26/9). So only the A319 and A320 are (maybe) going to EW.

[Boavida]

38 out of 49 planes would fit in the EW model according to LH. That means all A319's, A320's and Avro's go to EW.

The behavior of LH is 'zum kotzen'. They really want to kill Brussels Airlines, as if it means nothing. Do they even realize it's the flag carrier airline of Belgium, the successor of Sabena!? Wy don't we have the same rights as the Swiss and Austrians with their national carrier?

As I said before, if this horror-story becomes reality, I will do anything in my power not to fly this soulless, generic "Eurowings" ever - and I think many Belgians with me. Eurowings would be the symbol of German violence and imperialism, Eurowings will be the name of the murderer of Belgian aviation. Great image they'll have! Who wants to fly that?

Yes, I'm angry

[sean1982]

38 out of 49 planes would fit in the EW model according to LH. That means all A319's, A320's and Avro's go to EW.

The behavior of LH is 'zum kotzen'. They really want to kill Brussels Airlines, as if it means nothing. Do they even realize it's the flag carrier airline of Belgium, the successor of Sabena!? Wy don't we have the same rights as the Swiss and Austrians with their national carrier?

As I said before, if this horror-story becomes reality, I will do anything in my power not to fly this soulless, generic "Eurowings" ever - and I think many Belgians with me. Eurowings would be the symbol of German violence and imperialism, Eurowings will be the name of the murderer of Belgian aviation. Great image they'll have! Who wants to fly that?

Yes, I'm angry

But who will you fly then Boavida? There are no belgian airlines anymore.

TUI?
EW?
Thomas Cook?
Ryanair?

[Yuqu12]

38 out of 49 planes would fit in the EW model according to LH. That means all A319's, A320's and Avro's go to EW.

The behavior of LH is 'zum kotzen'. They really want to kill Brussels Airlines, as if it means nothing. Do they even realize it's the flag carrier airline of Belgium, the successor of Sabena!? Wy don't we have the same rights as the Swiss and Austrians with their national carrier?

As I said before, if this horror-story becomes reality, I will do anything in my power not to fly this soulless, generic "Eurowings" ever - and I think many Belgians with me. Eurowings would be the symbol of German violence and imperialism, Eurowings will be the name of the murderer of Belgian aviation. Great image they'll have! Who wants to fly that?

Yes, I'm angry

But who will you fly then Boavida? There are no belgian airlines anymore.

TUI?
EW?
Thomas Cook?
Ryanair?

If I take the plane then to e.g. Italy, I will fly Alitalia. I will always fly with national carriers and indeed not with EW. Their livery is already zum kotzen, so I certainly won't fly with the killer of the only belgian aviation company

[Conti764]

Really too bad that no one learned the Swissair lesson and are now giving the airline away to Lufthansa...
Highly doubt Lufthansa is very interested in SN like they are in Swiss....
Perhaps an occasion for Jetairfly to become the Belgian airline and start some serious expansion, perhaps a venture with Air Belgium for the Asia routes...

When LH acquired the first 45% of the stakes in SN Air Holding, the future looked completely different and everybody assumed SN could run an operation like LX. LH is not as strong as it was back then, and has a new CEO who has his personel little project.

If Eurowings is in dire need of aircraft and SN's A319/A320 planes fit the fleet, have a look at LX and OS... They too have plenty of A319's and A320's flying around...

[Conti764]

Really too bad that no one learned the Swissair lesson and are now giving the airline away to Lufthansa...
Highly doubt Lufthansa is very interested in SN like they are in Swiss....
Perhaps an occasion for Jetairfly to become the Belgian airline and start some serious expansion, perhaps a venture with Air Belgium for the Asia routes...

They didnt have much of choice didnt they? It was take the LH deal or go bust. At that time SN was nothing more than an empty box and they should be really grateful that LH kept their head above the water for so long. For MANY people within the industry the integration into EW/germanwings (at the time) was a story we had see coming for the last 2-3 years, otherwise I wouldnt have defended my opinion so ferocisouly.

There still isn't any logic in axing SN and integrate the shorthaul ops into Eurowings. At least not entirely... Some less performing flights of SN, I could understand but other flights which are either well performing or have the potential to do so, shoudl have remained with SN.

Not to speak of the long haul. Although not the biggest, BRU is still a sizeable market. If the goal of LH is or was to kill competition in their own backyard (remember SN was leaning heavily towards oneworld at the time of the acquisition by LH), they might just attrack more competition to that very same backyard. BRU won't sit iddle to see LH taking away prime operations at the airport (a bunch of low cost operations is nothing to be proud of) and passengers will always prefer to fly straigth into Brussels than via a detour through FRA, MUC or ZRH. Not that BRU market is that big, but it would be wiser of LH to retain the airport as a hub.

If I follow the logic of LH behind integrating SN into EW, they might as well integrate the entire short and medium haul ops from all airlines into EW: SN, LX, OS and... LH itself.

At least some of us didn't have their black-yellow-red beer goggles on when writing an opinion.

Well, I am sorry some people at least remain a bit patriotic.

[Conti764]

Wy don't we have the same rights as the Swiss and Austrians with their national carrier?

We don't speak enough German.

[koja78]

Patriotic...

Like... not buy renault or ford anymore.. or go on a holiday to Switzerland... yeah we are all very patriotic. And exactly that is the reason why we are different from LX and OS

[Inquirer]

The behavior of LH is 'zum kotzen'. They really want to kill Brussels Airlines, as if it means nothing. Do they even realize it's the flag carrier airline of Belgium, the successor of Sabena!? Wy don't we have the same rights as the Swiss and Austrians with their national carrier?

As I said before, if this horror-story becomes reality, I will do anything in my power not to fly this soulless, generic "Eurowings" ever - and I think many Belgians with me. Eurowings would be the symbol of German violence and imperialism, Eurowings will be the name of the murderer of Belgian aviation. Great image they'll have! Who wants to fly that?

Yes, I'm angry

But who will you fly then Boavida? There are no belgian airlines anymore.

TUI?
EW?
Thomas Cook?
Ryanair?

You're getting a bit annoying.

Conti, I agree with Sean on this: what makes a company Belgian to you? Merely it's name?
To me it proofs we often don't realize the origin of a company and simply go by it's self-created image. Even if we think we do know their origin, we're easily fooled: Swiss isn't Swiss at all, Austrian isn't Austrian,
even the stand alone Irish Low cost Ryanair isn't so Irish as many people think it is: in the wake of the Brexit it emerged that it is currently owned for over 20% by residents from the UK, which mean that- when combined with it's other non-EU shareholdings (mainly from the US), Ryanair would no longer qualify as an EU airline after Brexit! So far for them being truely Irish too then, I guess?
See how detached from reality the perceived origin of an airline can be?

What makes a company Belgian is not who happens to currently own it, but where it is anchored.
That isn't just applicable to aviation btw, it's applicable to pretty much every business: just how many people would realize that when they set foot in a Delhaize, they actually visit a Dutch-owned retailer now?
What makes them forever Belgian in the mind and harts of people is because this company was founded here, grew big here, operates from here, employs thousands of people here, participates in public society here and continues to contribute meaningfully to our economy too.
Compare that to the way perceived far more foreign companies behave: they just come over to sell their products, but produce, distribute and operate from abroad, all without contributing much -if anything at all- to our society.

As I have said many months ago at the start of this topic, I couldn't care less about the name on the plane: what matters is that Brussels Airlines gets into a very solid group with the ambition to grow their business.
THAT is what it is all about really: if BRU could get 10, 12 million passengers vs the 8 million they can bring now thanks to more integrated operations on a group level, then I'd say that's definitely good news: good news for the airport, good news for employment, good news for the business community around the airport and good news for our country's economy.

Governance-wise, within the Lufthansa group putting the Belgian business unit in the same corporate cluster as Eurowings would definitely make sense given the similarities between the 2 hybrid product companies (the latter can even learn quite a few things from the first one, I can assure them as a FF of both!) as well as the similar cost base (B.air is said to have the lowest cost base of the 2 even!).

Whether the 2 companies should also operationally work closely together and whether that should be done through a complete merger, a newly created Joint Venture, a wet lease agreement (like Air Berlin will interestingly be doing shortly) or just plain and simple code sharing on each other's routes to and from Belgium (or a combination of several methods from that list) needs to be worked out in detail, but in the past I've pushed the idea to have B.air outsource the commercial aspects of their regional flying to Eurowings so it can take full benefit of the sale force and rapidly increasing brand awareness of the German company while itself can then focus all company dedicated resources on their intercontinental routes.

By doing so and thus combining the strengths of both Brussels Airlines with those of Eurowings on the European routes, they'd effectively be turning BRU into the first hybrid product hub of the Lufthansa Group, benefiting from a large number of feeding routes which would make it the natural starting point for many of the new long distance Eurowings routes in future too, rather than find itself limited to forever remaining focused predominantly on just Africa. A transfer of poorly performing intercontinental Eurowings routes from Koln (suffering from poor connectivity overthere) would be an obvious first step if BRU would indeed become the airport with the biggest commercial Eurowings presence in Europe, IMHO, a move which would be very much liked by all stakeholders as this would bring hundreds if not thousands of new jobs.

In the context of the above, I find this an interesting opinion:
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/opini ... /1.2781864
While i do not share with the author the lingering yearning for more economic nationalism, he does put the finger on the wound by pointing to our own inconsistent daily behaviour as 'unpatriotic' Belgians who expect others to save (and pay up for) the symbols we're often still emotionally attached to.

[Yuqu12]

@inquirer. I can follow what you say and your arguments on the benefits of SN and EW look logical to me. Bit there is 1 thing I would like to remark. If SN gets integrated intp EW, it is absolutely not sure whether BRU is going to have the advantages. It is very good possible that FRA and MUN will benefit more from the deal than BRU. And I think that is the fact what is feard the most by the crew. And I can't say that they are wrong...

[Inquirer]

I understand that that all too well, but that's the logical consequence of not having a Belgian ownership: the opinion on deredactie.be which I've linked to (see above) specifically comments on that characteristically Belgian attitute in which we as a nation don't feel the need to ever stand up and pay up ourselves in order to own something very dear to us, but we all think it's a pitty when it's subsequently sold off to a foreign owner because only then do we realize that such foreign ownership also comes with far less emotional attachment to brand, location or national interests than we'd like to see.
All those crying fool now should maybe look into the mirror and question if by working for or flying with non-Belgian airlines in the past, they haven't contributed their tiny little bit to what they now very vocally say to dislike? If you really want a big Belgian airlines, maybe start by flying it whenever you fly then, even if they aren't always the absolute cheapest.

But to specifically reply to your 'fear': the one thing speaking in your favour is the very interesting comment from Karl Ulrich Garnadt in Trends:
L'administrateur a ajouté que Brussels Airlines avait les coûts opérationnels les plus faibles au sein du groupe Lufthansa
https://www.aviation24.be/forums/viewtopic ... 80#p340784
When emotions, nationalism and pride are replaced by dull managers looking merely at the bottom line of a business case, that's quite an interesting asset to have. And coming straight from the mouth of somebody a German as high up and involved as he is, is quite meaningful too, I think: it apparently got noticed.

[sean1982]

All those crying fool now should maybe look into the mirror and question if by working for or flying with non-Belgian airlines in the past, they haven't contributed their tiny little bit to what they now very vocally say to dislike?

OMG, now its al OUR fault is it? It's nobody's fault but SN management that they didnt do anything to improve their figures untill they got challenged at their own airport and the fuel prices dropped.

It's nobody's fault that they stopped playing the typical belgian kalimero attitude after it was to late and they had to already strike a deal with a foreign investment partner cause they couldnt survive on their own. I for one am not sorry that I never saw bread an butter in that scenario. In fact, I would have personally been far way off worse if I chose to work for SN during the course of the last 14 years offering nothing but insecurity, summer contracts, temprorary contracts, etc ...

Can you blame joe public cause they don't wanna pay 4 times the price of a TUI or Ryanair ticket to malaga or alicante and don't get any obvious benefits over that? (besides the fact then that is is "truly Belgian") Off course not!

If we have to blame everyone for whats going wrong with belgian companies cause they work for a "foreign" company" than 75% of all belgians are to blame for this country going tits up

Economy tickets in Europe have been EXTREMELY price sensitive, all over Europe for the last 10 years. Its not anyone's fault besides their own SN didnt jump on that bandwagon until 3 years ago, when it was already to late as the foundation of this EW shenanigans was laid in 2008!

[Inquirer]

Talking in terms of fault are so typically yours, Sean.
I limited myself to saying it is the logical consequence without putting any blame for that whatsoever.
I work for a foreign company myself, btw, you know?
But what is ambivalent is combining a daily "I don't care about my country" attitude whenever choices are to be made with the sudden "we're all doomed now" mantra when the consequences of that said attitude come into being.

I for one do not think they're doomed at all, quite on the contrary even: I see this as an untapped opportunity for something quite big even.
It might just be we agree on that too, who knows: you seem to be a fairly commonsense person otherwise? Although your longstanding dislike of them is quite obvious to the point it could prevent you from admitting such.

BTW- how is it working in the UK?
My non-British colleagues over there complain about long term job insecurity post-Brexit, as well as much lower pay after conversion to euro: without any schadenfraude whatsoever: dropping Ryanair for British Airways was not exactly your best short term career move, either, was it?