Air Belgium in 2018

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Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

Boeing767copilot wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 06:59 A reliable source familiar with AB management told me that there is just only reason for the delay: 'Hardly sold tickets for the coming weeks and months'.
Looks like the only possibility indeed: empty flights. Cathay applied about ten months between announcement of the new route to BRU and the first flight. Air Belgium: one month. I understand that decision: their CFO tells that money urgently needs to come in now. But from the travel/tourism aspect, one month is far too less to get bookings for a long haul destination. Only business passengers book (partly) on such short notice.

JustPlanes wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 10:37 How about you wait until you have the overflight rights... and then announce flights for 90 days later so you can sell some tickets... By June 2nd they still won't sell a lot of tickets and who says they will have the permissions... Starting an airline is rough but it must be done properly and professionally if you want to succeed!
Totally agree. They already had a permit debacle with Belgian authorities on their AOC, and now they have a permit issue that is 100 times more unpredictable.

JustPlanes wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 10:37 It reminds me of VG Airlines...
Hashtag metoo...

big bird
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by big bird »

The Air Belgium website is off line again... :roll:
What are they doing over there? Something like that doesn't build much confidence in my opinion.
Capture.JPG

TLspotting
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by TLspotting »

big bird wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 16:25 The Air Belgium website is off line again... :roll:
What are they doing over there? Something like that doesn't build much confidence in my opinion.Capture.JPG
Online again
Hi. I'm Thibault Lapers. @ThibaultLapers & @TLspotting

Passenger
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Joined: 06 Dec 2010, 20:54

Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

TLspotting wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 17:41
big bird wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 16:25 The Air Belgium website is off line again... :roll:
What are they doing over there? Something like that doesn't build much confidence in my opinion.Capture.JPG
Online again
Actually, they were never offline. Their forwarding from airbelgium.be or airbelgium/com to airbelgium/com/en is very very slow. And some browsers regard that interval as "website is offline". Trust their webdesigner/webhoster is working on it.

Because there is no news at all from Air Belgium, let's go off topic and discuss the weather... There is an external website where one can check if websites are down indeed:
https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com

ttubbie
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by ttubbie »

Does nobody see that this is turning out to be a failure ?

FLYAIR10
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by FLYAIR10 »

I guess it would be good Air Belgium could generate some income at very short notice.
Their cash flow position must be deradful.
Hopefully at least SLM is paying their bills timely and they can do some additional flights.

What about CARGO? An A340 without pax can load some 38 Tons of cargo ,if I'm not mistaken.
While they have no other use for those birds at this moment,would it not make sense to offer the A340's for
Cargo-only charters? Maybe on some destinations it could be a solution for any of the big forwarders confonted with a sudden peak in demand and no capacity within a given timeframe?
Not cheap,but might be doable for high value and temperature sensitive goods such as pharma ,vaccines,computer parts,perishables,..
Air Belgium is probably willing to offer a rock-bottom charter price for this kind of flights.
If I remember well the former TEA did some cargo-only charterflights with their new A300 in the beginning of that operation. Long time ago. must have been in the early eighties...

Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

sonic boom wrote: 25 Apr 2018, 18:22 Air Belgium delay's it start to the 3rd of june:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... s-flights/
Part two - and not the publicity they can afford:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... m-contact/

DeltaWiskey
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by DeltaWiskey »

Passenger wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 22:10
sonic boom wrote: 25 Apr 2018, 18:22 Air Belgium delay's it start to the 3rd of june:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... s-flights/
Part two - and not the publicity they can afford:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... m-contact/
And Part 3, which does not seem to be a bad offer after all, and rather quick.https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... rebooking/

Kenlybe
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Kenlybe »

DeltaWiskey wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 22:23
Passenger wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 22:10
sonic boom wrote: 25 Apr 2018, 18:22 Air Belgium delay's it start to the 3rd of june:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... s-flights/
Part two - and not the publicity they can afford:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... m-contact/
And Part 3, which does not seem to be a bad offer after all, and rather quick.https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... rebooking/
I'm impressed. It has been a clumsy start for Air Belgium, but it does seem that their intentions are good and they don't try to escape their responsability.

Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

Kenlybe wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 23:46 I'm impressed. It has been a clumsy start for Air Belgium, but it does seem that their intentions are good and they don't try to escape their responsability.
Yes, it is a very nice gesture indeed. But they can't afford to that to a lot of people, so they probably didn't had a lot of cancelled bookings to deal with.

But what isn't nice, are the comments from other people on those three blog posts:
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... s-flights/
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... m-contact/
https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com ... rebooking/

Amavro
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Amavro »

Passenger wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 01:14 But what isn't nice, are the comments from other people on those three blog posts:
It makes me think about Ryanair and their strategy : the media have spoken about them extremely negatively, but they have spoken about them very often = free publicity. It's the same here with AB, they are getting more and more publicity, and it's quite a good deal.

Boeing767copilot
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Boeing767copilot »

Amavro wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 08:43
Passenger wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 01:14 But what isn't nice, are the comments from other people on those three blog posts:
It makes me think about Ryanair and their strategy : the media have spoken about them extremely negatively, but they have spoken about them very often = free publicity. It's the same here with AB, they are getting more and more publicity, and it's quite a good deal.
One big difference: Ryanair had been in the air for a long time, AB was not.

Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

Air Belgium is not the only carrier with a permit problem for the Russian airspace:

"...The U.D. State Department wants new talks with Russia by the end of May on agreements for U.S. airlines to cross Russian airspace, with officials in Moscow holding out on at least one key route used by cargo carriers... Russia this month agreed to renew three of four overflight routes as a deadline was about to expire. The fourth route, which runs across southern Russia, wasn’t renewed, and cargo carriers have had to use a costlier flight path as a result..."

Source - more info:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... in-problem

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luchtzak
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by luchtzak »

Today Air Belgium will operate a flight for Royal Air Maroc from Paris Orly to Marrakech and back.

Via: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=63564

#AT7641 ORY-RAK 14:50 - 16:55 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018
#AT658 RAK-ORY 18:35 - 22:40 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018

Image

FLYAIR10
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by FLYAIR10 »

by convair » 26 Apr 2018, 12:15
Flanker3 wrote: ↑
25 Apr 2018, 22:24
The Russia overflight permits could take a while.
But they're not really a deal breaker.
If you take the route great circle via TBS, the detour is less than 6%. The A343 can take it range-wise so it's only a matter of slighty higher operating costs.
Maybe not a big detour (for HKG; it can be worse for other destinations in China) but they will need a few more pints of fuel, which will not help their T/O at CRL.

And I find it strange they have yet to obtain that permit (which I think won't be easy, given the current relations between Russia and the "Western World") after so many months of preparation.
Did you say professionals?
How does it work with those overflight rights actually? What are the 'criteria' used when permitting overflight rights to a carrier?
Is it the place of legal address of the airline? The registration-number of the plane? The place where the AOC was granted? The place of departure and destination? (I guess it's all of them, or not?)

But would Air Belgium be allowed to overfly Russia when performing a flight for let's say Air France from let's say CDG to Shanghai? (hence under AF flight number)
(Maybe this question was already answered on this forum,but in any case I'don't recall anyway)

On the other side,would it be possible to do an 'Air Belgium'-flight with an AF-plane ?(or another EU-airline's plane which currently has overflight-rights over Russia?)

Bracebrace
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Bracebrace »

Passenger wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 12:09 Air Belgium is not the only carrier with a permit problem for the Russian airspace:
All airlines in countries with political problems in relation to Russia experience difficulties. Air Belgium is a weak and easy victim in this regard. Any "tricks" used to bypass the process will only work against the carrier.

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luchtzak
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by luchtzak »

Trip report on last weekend's rehearsal flights, by Ivan Coninx: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air-b ... al-flight/

convair
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by convair »

I assume the right is granted and restricted to a company, whatever planes it uses for the flights.
The fact that SN may not codeshare on NH flights to/from Japan shows the rights apply stictly to NH and cannot be "sub-granted" to anyone. No "tricks" are possible imho.

Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

luchtzak wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 12:22 Today Air Belgium will operate a flight for Royal Air Maroc from Paris Orly to Marrakech and back.

Via: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=63564

#AT7641 ORY-RAK 14:50 - 16:55 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018
#AT658 RAK-ORY 18:35 - 22:40 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018
On her way back, from Marrakech to Paris Orly:
https://www.flightradar24.com/RAM658/1132ad51

Passenger
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Re: Air Belgium in 2018

Post by Passenger »

Passenger wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 21:18
luchtzak wrote: 28 Apr 2018, 12:22 Today Air Belgium will operate a flight for Royal Air Maroc from Paris Orly to Marrakech and back.
Via: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=63564
#AT7641 ORY-RAK 14:50 - 16:55 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018
#AT658 RAK-ORY 18:35 - 22:40 A343 OOABA 28/04/2018
On her way back, from Marrakech to Paris Orly:
https://www.flightradar24.com/RAM658/1132ad51
Same routing again for Royal Air Maroc on Sunday:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/oo-aba

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