Air Belgium in 2018

[Shonix]

It might be the other way around: premium passengers (and their luggage) bussed to the North terminal?

I will ask Jean-Jacques Cloquet next time I see him (I invited him for a conference to his former colleagues of Solvay in March).

Forget what I wrote. Actually there is a road that allows vehicules to reach one terminal to another without crossing the runway.

[sn26567]

Air Belgium CEO Niky Terzakis just tweeted: Second aircraft Acceptance Flight Test this morning with our Deputy Flight Operations Director, Captain Jean Tchaoussoglou at the controls. Uneventful flight with aircraft performing extremely well.



You may notice that the flight was operated with an Airbus flight number, which seems to indicate that the aircraft is in Airbus' possession.

[N77014]

I wonder if the "20-minute parking to boarding" concept for premium passengers, is to board a bus after 20 minutes, in order to bring you to the other terminal, or to board the real AirBUS... ? Quite a different experience, imho... And will there be a jetway ? If you have to climb the stairs in rain and wind... ?

[SLM]

Sometimes you have to climb the stairs also in FRA, MUC, LHR, AMS, CDG, ZRH....so that's not a huge problem.

[N77014]

I agree, and have been doing that as well. But these were exceptions. Here it would be every single time, or ? +, bussing around takes away from a real Premium experience, would you agree ?

[Airbus330lover]

Surely not, and.... you have the same bussing in BKK too

[mad_fab]

I agree, and have been doing that as well. But these were exceptions. Here it would be every single time, or ? +, bussing around takes away from a real Premium experience, would you agree ?

Well, would you consider EK not being a "premium" experience? Because at DXB stairs and busses are very common, even for A380...
In any case, even if there's a jet bridge, you'll have to walk from the bus to the terminal and climb the stairs inside.

[sean1982]

I agree, and have been doing that as well. But these were exceptions. Here it would be every single time, or ? +, bussing around takes away from a real Premium experience, would you agree ?

Well, would you consider EK not being a "premium" experience? Because at DXB stairs and busses are very common, even for A380...
In any case, even if there's a jet bridge, you'll have to walk from the bus to the terminal and climb the stairs inside.

with that difference that DXB doesnt have that much rain, wind and cold weather

[travellover]

with that difference that DXB doesnt have that much rain, wind and cold weather

On the other hand, DXB suffer the fierce heat and dryness . Nothing is perfect in this world .

[Desert Rat]

Jules Cesar said once that the belgians were the bravest of the gauls tribes...are we turning into a bunch of pussies?
Is it that difficult to climb the stairs ?....and outside in the wind and the rain!!!...OMG...

[galaxy]

Isn't that pretty cool ?

[crew1990]

Jules Cesar said once that the belgians were the bravest of the gauls tribes...are we turning into a bunch of pussies?
Is it that difficult to climb the stairs ?....and outside in the wind and the rain!!!...OMG...

Yep Belgian are brave, we don't fear the rain but other passenger does :-p

[sn26567]

Air Belgium CEO Niky Terzakis just tweeted: Second aircraft Acceptance Flight Test this morning with our Deputy Flight Operations Director, Captain Jean Tchaoussoglou at the controls. Uneventful flight with aircraft performing extremely well.



You may notice that the flight was operated with an Airbus flight number, which seems to indicate that the aircraft is in Airbus' possession.

The aircraft was F-WXAB registered to Airbus Financial Services, former Finnair OH-LQB and the future Air Belgium OO-ABA. (Airbus had accepted to take back the Finnair A340s in exchange for selling them new A350s).

[Flanker3]

I too think that they should start selling right away and leave at least 2-3 months between the opening of bookings and start of operations. If it's not an option, they should start with lower weekly frequencies and ramp it up progressively.
However, they need to be running full steam by June, otherwise they're going to miss out on the most lucrative period of the year.
Also, they should get feeding sorted with FR and/or Wizzair ASAP, otherwise it's going to be a very challegning start.

I think that HKG, PVG, PEK will work fine.

They should also definitely add HND and before the summer.
Yields are high in the summer, and they could get a lot of exposure, especially in Japan as prices are astronomic in July and August. They will earn the favors of Japanese tour operators for sure.

Air Belgium should also organise their own bus services to the center of Brussels. The bus services offered by CRL are not professional (don't leave according to schedule), not adequate for a widebody load of passengers and most pax want to be in the center and not at Midi station.

[crew1990]

Air Belgium should also organise their own bus services to the center of Brussels. The bus services offered by CRL are not professional (don't leave according to schedule), not adequate for a widebody load of passengers and most pax want to be in the center and not at Midi station.

CRL is not offering this bus service, this is actually Flibco, a luxembourgish private company.

[Flanker3]

Air Belgium should also organise their own bus services to the center of Brussels. The bus services offered by CRL are not professional (don't leave according to schedule), not adequate for a widebody load of passengers and most pax want to be in the center and not at Midi station.

CRL is not offering this bus service, this is actually Flibco, a luxembourgish private company.

I don't think that we need to debate the fact that Flibco has been selected by CRL to offer the service. In the beginning it was quite well-run, now it's turning into an embarassment for CRL, and probably why we read comments like yours, trying to put distance between CRL and the embarassing operation.

They don't depart until the bus is full, so while some people make an effort to catch the bus on time, they end up missing hourly train connections because Flibco wants to make as much money as possible.
Then in the bus, you have to listen to weird exotic music that the driver puts on speakers, until you politely ask to lower it.

Even more embarassing is how shady-looking taxi drivers are organising competing shuttles at both ends.

As Air Belgium will be very focussed on the Chinese leisure market, one selling point could be that they can organise a shuttle bus to their first hotel from where they can continue their journey with the bus compay that they've ordered.
Or better even, for tour groups, organise the entire bus journey on Air Belgium busses. The Chinese tour groups are having notorious issues finding reliable bus companies who don't overcharge them, with tour leaders forced to fork out "tips" to the drivers for driving overtime in traffic jams.
Air Belgium won't make a fortune on those, but having dozens of busses with a big logo on it driving around in different cities offers them a lot of exposure.

[Shonix]

Very interesting interview of JJ Cloquet and N. Terzakis (in French).

http://trends.levif.be/economie/entrepr ... 95701.html

[SLM]

Is there already an aircraft in the colours of Air Belgium?

[sn26567]

Is there already an aircraft in the colours of Air Belgium?

No. The planes in LDE are all-white.

[nordikcam]

"The first planes, Airbus A340-300s, are due to be delivered in mid-February" said The Bulletin 31 of january 2018. If the company exists and we are mid-February there must be a new calendar ...

http://www.xpats.com/air-belgium-fly-ch ... ong-spring