Brussels Airlines in 2018

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

skumfiduse wrote: 30 May 2018, 20:49
Apuneger wrote: 30 May 2018, 12:58 Brussels Airlines has announced new destinations Kyiv and Wroclaw: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/lufth ... d-wroclaw/

Best regards,
Ivan
Helsinki next? ;) (and perhaps some other seasonal services to the Nordics, e.g. Lapland?)
They already did several 'test' flights to Lapland at the beginning of this year to see if they could deliver, so this winter they'll offer some more flights probably for Asteria (the touroperator)
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Darjeeling
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Darjeeling »

DUS-RSW in 9h54' with OO-SFO, flight must have been half empty or with a consequent payload penalty...

Strange they didn't "request" SFX or an A332... :?:

I've talked with someone of UPAV yesterday, and many Belgian travel agents are very upset about the CityJet situation. Many cancellations to manage, reroutings...

These Sukhoi are terrible publicity for SN... I assume an SN supertop ultraskilled manager or VP must be very proud of the CityJet deal. :roll:

JustPlanes
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by JustPlanes »

They should charter a Buffalo DC-3... slower but it will get you there unlike the Sukhois :)

Inquirer
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Inquirer »

VRT had an interview with Carsten Spohr on Brussels Airlines.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/06/05 ... lein-om-e/

The usual messages from the past were brought once more:
- the airline is not known outside Belgium and Africa = need for commercial integration in other markets
- costs need to get lower to become meaningfully profitable
- Lufthansa invests further, but only in profitable companies
- Spohr is disappointed by the pilot strikes of last month
- pilot jobs are not at risk, on the contrary even

The only interesting new element is probably the smell of significant frustration from the fact an integration within Eurowings is not highly supported very much in Belgium, not internally and not outside of the company either.
We already know from past comments by SN's CEO C. Foster that pending decisions on the brand for instance have been put off for now because of persistent resistance by employees and local markets and clearly Spohr is angry about this as he sees great synergies in it, while 'those little Belgians' are making them impossible to implement quickly by their emotional attachment to Brussels Airlines itself.

Not the best of interviews by Spohr; I think he got a bit carried away there for a minute by going wildly off track and mixing personal emotions on irrational yet foreign sentiments to the cold corporate facts: he comes across now not as the messenger of a logical business outcome good for all, but as the Teutonic autocentric maniac who wants to subdue others abroad without any cultural respect for them: not the best of attitudes for a German to have, given the country's recent past.

Poiu
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Poiu »

You can shoot the messenger, but message is clear though, Eurowings or no wings at all!
Last edited by Poiu on 05 Jun 2018, 13:09, edited 1 time in total.

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sn26567
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by sn26567 »

Inquirer wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 08:59 VRT had an interview with Carsten Spohr on Brussels Airlines.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/06/05 ... lein-om-e/

The usual messages from the past were brought once more:
- the airline is not known outside Belgium and Africa = need for commercial integration in other markets
- costs need to get lower to become meaningfully profitable
- Lufthansa invests further, but only in profitable companies
- Spohr is disappointed by the pilot strikes of last month
- pilot jobs are not at risk, on the contrary even

The only interesting new element is probably the smell of significant frustration from the fact an integration within Eurowings is not highly supported very much in Belgium, not internally and not outside of the company either.
We already know from past comments by SN's CEO C. Foster that pending decisions on the brand for instance have been put off for now because of persistent resistance by employees and local markets and clearly Spohr is angry about this as he sees great synergies in it, while 'those little Belgians' are making them impossible to implement quickly by their emotional attachment to Brussels Airlines itself.

Not the best of interviews by Spohr; I think he got a bit carried away there for a minute by going wildly off track and mixing personal emotions on irrational yet foreign sentiments to the cold corporate facts: he comes across now not as the messenger of a logical business outcome good for all, but as the Teutonic autocentric maniac who wants to subdue others abroad without any cultural respect for them: not the best of attitudes for a German to have, given the country's recent past.
I couldn't agree more with your comments, Inquirer. Spohr does not speak out neutrally, but as an arrogant German for whom everyone else has no other choice than to accept his "Diktats". Furthermore, he totally ignores objectivity:
- Investing only in profitable companies? Eurowings lost 200M euros in the first quarter, but gets the largest investments
- Disappointed with Belgian pilots' strikes? How many strikes at Lufthansa in the past two years, and their pilots got a much superior package
- Brussels Airlines unknown outside Belgium and Africa? Eurowings is not better known either. And if he wants a brand well-known worldwide, he can use Sabena.

Very disappointing interview, Mr Spohr. It will not raise your credit among Belgians!
André
ex Sabena #26567

sn-remember
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Expect no "Geschenk" : Spohr to SN

Post by sn-remember »

We knew SN is not the blue eyed child of the group ..
Results expectancy with no "help" (meaning adequate support and investment) is not IMHO the best way to run a business successfully. Or he just says "Stop the striking thing or game over" ?
https://www.hln.be/geld/economie/luftha ... ~aae1185d/
http://www.lalibre.be/economie/libre-en ... 0b07f559dd

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

the way he responds to questions says it all .. it's all about LH and LX and all the rest will have to go and being transformed into EW. Does this come as a shock? not really as it would have been expected when selling to LH, they're already shifting flights to MUC (because of FRA being full) and starting their base at VIE while they still have OS as well … so sooner or later it'll be all about EW for the low fares and LH/LX for the premium fares and long haul transferring everyone through FRA MUC and ZRH
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Vic Diesel
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Vic Diesel »

CTBke wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 12:49 the way he responds to questions says it all .. it's all about LH and LX and all the rest will have to go and being transformed into EW. Does this come as a shock? not really as it would have been expected when selling to LH, they're already shifting flights to MUC (because of FRA being full) and starting their base at VIE while they still have OS as well … so sooner or later it'll be all about EW for the low fares and LH/LX for the premium fares and long haul transferring everyone through FRA MUC and ZRH
Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more. That Prussian technocrat (I'm tempted to use to term "Kraut bastard with an Übermensch mindset", but that might be too harsh). In a Blitzkrieg, LH secured the companies LX, OS and SN - and now, with the exception of LX, everything has to serve the "conquerors", that is: LH. The main points of the interview were quote identical with what he says about OS as well (with the exception of the first point). The underlying message is: we bought you, now shut up and do as we command you to do. This might be a sufficient approach for shareholders of LH - but for the rest, it is appalling and disgusting.
Best regards,
Viktor

(Budapest-born, Vienna-raised, Brussels-based)

Jetter
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Jetter »

Inquirer wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 08:59- Spohr is disappointed by the pilot strikes of last month
Here I have to agree with Spohr, I was very disappointed as well. :cry:

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lumumba
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by lumumba »

737MAX wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 16:08
Jetter wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 15:27
Inquirer wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 08:59- Spohr is disappointed by the pilot strikes of last month
Here I have to agree with Spohr, I was very disappointed as well. :cry:
Everybody was. Including these pilots.
Exactly....
Hasta la victoria siempre.

Boavida
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Boavida »

Spohr clearly has 0 respect for Belgium as a country. For the big German, small countries are apparently not entitled to have a national identity. Those stupid little Belgians! Who do they think they are?

Seriously, is this 1940 or 2018? Where is the respect?

He says Brussels Airlines is 'unknown' in Scandinavia or Madrid. That could be better indeed but isn't the most important thing to be well known in your own home market!??

I said it before and I will say it again: what is the point of having another generic, low cost carrier with NO identity in Brussels, besides FR, U2, VY...? Why should I fly Eurowings instead of Ryanair, knowing EW has killed our national carrier? I say full boycot. I will do everything I can to avoid EW.

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b.lufthansa
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by b.lufthansa »

Flying more passengers than ever, most of the staff and crew working their butt off. Restructuring, cutting costs, race to the bottom, etc.. hardly any profit.

And now a nice negative article by the big boss.

This must be very frustrating for staff and crew.

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by sn-remember »

Poiu wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 09:51 You can shoot the messenger, but message is clear though, Eurowings or no wings at all!
The bad news is that DUS is strategically targetted as EW's base. And BRU as a focus city ? while SN temporarily playing a small role to Africa. On the longer run, in case SN gets closed, the African network might be diluted into EW from BRU, LH and LX taking the high end product (maybe in part from BRU also ?), I don't know .. it's contrary to what I always thought possible, i.e. the development of a small to medium (around 20 w/b a/C) effective hub in B ?
However let's be pragmatic and positive, BRU still has some attractiveness on the world market. Who cares the name and the colour of the plane ? Let's make it the most local possible .. No choice for now :-/
Last edited by sn-remember on 05 Jun 2018, 17:47, edited 2 times in total.

Jetter
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Jetter »

Boavida wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 17:02I said it before and I will say it again: what is the point of having another generic, low cost carrier with NO identity in Brussels, besides FR, U2, VY...? Why should I fly Eurowings instead of Ryanair, knowing EW has killed our national carrier? I say full boycot. I will do everything I can to avoid EW.
The point for LH is to make profit, for them a high cost carrier with a Belgian identity that doesn't make a profit is of no use. What will you do: only fly Air Belgium from now on and spend all your holidays in Hong Kong? :lol:

Bralo20
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Bralo20 »

Jetter wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 17:21 The point for LH is to make profit, for them a high cost carrier with a Belgian identity that doesn't make a profit is of no use. What will you do: only fly Air Belgium from now on and spend all your holidays in Hong Kong? :lol:
Use BA and travel via LHR, use AF and travel via CDG, use KL and travel via AMS, etc... plenty of choices to avoid flying with EW/LH... Or use one of the LCC's for intra-EU flights. Flying to the US? DL, AC will get you there from BRU. Asia/Australasia? Most places are reachable ex-BRU with a single stop... EY, EK, QR, TG, NH, CX, HU... Again, plenty of choice.

There's virtually no need to use LH group carriers ex-BRU.

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by jan_olieslagers »

The year after Renault decided to close their Vilvoorde factory, Renault was the most-sold car in Belgium... Enough said?

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lumumba
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by lumumba »

jan_olieslagers wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 17:39 The year after Renault decided to close their Vilvoorde factory, Renault was the most-sold car in Belgium... Enough said?
But Renault is not a national brand....
Hasta la victoria siempre.

Deejay
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Deejay »

With smaller planes getting longer and longer ranges, the HUB strategy will no longer be the main business model, but direct flights from point to point, will.

I still do not understand why Belgium (11 Million and EU Capital) cannot have a premium flag carrier
and Austria, and Switzerland, with each 8 Million inhabitants can....

I think the problem is that we belgians are not ambitious and proud enough... a little economic nationalism could help us here. This is the main difference with AUA and LX
In Belgium, politics are never far away, and any "national" symbol is seen as something dated from "la belgique à papa"...
don't you agree ?

of course, the result is that the airline is not making the kind of money an investor would hope for and the rest is history ....

saratoga
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by saratoga »

Deejay wrote: 05 Jun 2018, 18:32 With smaller planes getting longer and longer ranges, the HUB strategy will no longer be the main business model, but direct flights from point to point, will.

I still do not understand why Belgium (11 Million and EU Capital) cannot have a premium flag carrier
and Austria, and Switzerland, with each 8 Million inhabitants can....

I think the problem is that we belgians are not ambitious and proud enough... a little economic nationalism could help us here. This is the main difference with AUA and LX
In Belgium, politics are never far away, and any "national" symbol is seen as something dated from "la belgique à papa"...
don't you agree ?

of course, the result is that the airline is not making the kind of money an investor would hope for and the rest is history ....
You are right. We belgians are not proud enough, except when the red devils soccer team are playing! I think it is also a political thing, too many governments having their own interests, that only creates a divide between the belgians. On top of that, none of these governments have something to say positive about aviation, for them it only creates noise and problems. Always whining and moaning between eachother and blaming the other. On top of that, the brussels politics with their noise rules makes it also very aviation unfriendly.

Plus the competition between airports. Some airports can rely on their local politicians (eblg, ebci), while other airports can't (ebos). And like always in Belgium, we are too much foreigner friendly, selling everthing we have to them so not much of our identity stays.

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