Full take-over of Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa ?

[flyfred007]

@ THE end of THE month Lufthansa is able to take full control over brussels airlines, i think they Will do it . What is THE general opinion of this subject???

[Acid-drop]

replaint of all planes : lufthansa belgium ?

[RoMax]

On paper SN is only 45% owned by LH, but both SN and LH really seems to act as SN is already a full daughter company. So if LH has secured all SN's traffic rights I'm quite sure they will take over SN soon.

BTW, is their a reason why the word "the" is always in capital letters in your posts?

replaint of all planes : lufthansa belgium ?

Did you already noticed that LH doesn't want to change the originall names of their international daughter companies? And don't use Lufthansa Italie as an exemple as it is a new formed airline, otherwise they would have renaimed Air Dolomiti and expanded its fleet.

[Megaman]

Brussels airlines is a name that has no aura to it. How does Amsterdam Airlines, Dublin Airlines, Barcelona Airlines, Washington Airlines sound to your ears (giving these just as examples). They don't sound great to mine, just as Brussels Airlines does not. It sounds small, lacking of ambition and regional. My preference goes to Sabena (I know I'm not followed on this by many of you) or Lufthansa Belgium equally sounds nice. There's just nothing exciting about the current name and I don't mean to harm anyone's feelings about this. Just stating what I think and what many around me think.

[Shanti]

Lufthansa Belgium is great!

[RoMax]

Don't get me wrong. I don't say Brussels Airlines is a great name, I also like Sabena more, but we've to accept that this will never come back. And I don't see SN's name to be changed in the near/mid long future, maybe in the far future, but not now.
BTW, it's not good for the image of a company to change your name too often (and the names changed quite often the last decade: DAT (plus) -> SN Brussels Airlines -> Brussels Airlines) it wouldn't be a good idea to change the name again.

It's not LH's intention to change SN's name, especially not just in Lufthansa Belgium. It's not their intention to create one big "worldwide super airline", they want a strong group of airlines with each their own identity.

But hey weren't we talking about the takeover of SN by LH...

[regi]

Interflug Belgium ?

[flyfred007]

Indeed i heared they would wait one year this would be terrible ....

[azingrew]

]Brussels airlines is a name that has no aura to it. How does Amsterdam Airlines, Dublin Airlines, Barcelona Airlines, Washington Airlines sound to your ears (giving these just as examples). They don't sound great to mine, just as Brussels Airlines does not. It sounds small, lacking of ambition and regional
I totaly agree with you but it seems to work for "Air Berlin". I'd go for Lufthansa Belgium. By the way, who owns the SABENA name ? could we not have a situation " a la Pan Am" (Resurected in Florida years after the collapse of the original with 5 727, painted in the original colours) That last one collapsed 3 years ago.

[Megaman]

I'm not too crazy about the Air Berlin name, but certainly better than Berlin Airlines.

I tried googleing Panam but found nothing up and running. I used to travel all over the world with them when I was a Kid. They were all over the place.

I have no idea what the Sabena name is worth. I imagine that the acquisition price has a nice goodwill to it which would probably not make a Sabena rebirth viable with small operations or limited funding.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Sabena was nice,very nice , but we're more than 10 years after, a lot of people still uses Sabena when they
mean Brussels Airlines , but.. let's get over it !
No interflug,lufthansa belgium, maybe that's what it gonna be but let's keep the name for heavens sake..
Not again everything over again.., better accept it and embrace it ..
I hope of more planes,destinations,different and new plane types..
If I might chance something ? The livery , the red balls ... argh !
The created a brand new super nice logo refering to SN,something SN blue with the German crane, altough
it's a swahili one.. let's evolve to a red/blue/white crane or so in the historic blue..
But thats not what the topic stands for, it's about what will stand after and for name..
CX-B

Hoping on a blue clear skye, a wind of chance/evolution.. concerning the above .. offcourse..

[Boavida]

Brussels Airlines is a LOUSY name. It sounds (very) cheap, small and local. It doesn't appeal to people - at all.

Also, the name isn't widely known. People still talk about Sabena when they mean "Brussels Airlines". I have some friends in Spain, France and Scandinavia and no one has ever heard of Brussels Airlines... No one!

So if LH takes full control over SN, they should definately consider to change the name back to SABENA. A brand known all over the world (in Africa it was even a synonym for 'airplane')! From a marketing point of view it would be very profitable.



So please Lufthansa, bring back the Sabena name

Possible logo?

[liege-bierset]

SABENA is a french acronym. Better to forget.
Why not Belgian LUFT-WAFFLES

[sn26567]

SABENA is a french acronym.

But who remembers that? Most people remember the English acronym for SABENA...

The discussion seems to go astray. Let's go back to the take-over of Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa please!

[Megaman]

To get back on subject, if they believe in being able to generate value through synergies, etc. they should do it asap, before the business developes further.

Once they do this, they should rename the company to give it a name with more catch to it. Sabena would be great, but the way things are going and because it's a french acronyme, sooner or later this would pop up in this small minded country and would hurt the company although many aviation enthusiasts north or south love the name and brand. Lufthansa Belgium should be the new name and a new company should be set up from Brussels south as a low cost called Sabena (but with nothing to do with LH). No issues with french accronym name, no issue with pas questionable service on board.

[BrightCedars]

SABENA is a french acronym.

But who remembers that? Most people remember the English acronym for SABENA...

And that English acronym is sure no better than just the thought of the French origin.
I'm not seeing the name change, ever. Brussels Airlines doesn't sound that bad and it's exactly what they are: the airline of Brussels. They don't have the ambition to be a network carrier, they have the ambition to be the leader for any BRU originating and bound traffic.

LH will fully buy SN if it is convinced that it will do good to its balance sheet and when the time is appropriate regarding its finances. I am sure LH will fully takeover SN, they wouldn't have started with the 45% in the first place, but I'm not sure it would be this year already. Although if there are bigger plans (new planes, new routes, etc.), they will need to put in more money and they will want 100% to do that.

[airazurxtror]

In september 2008, Lufthansa has bought a minority stake in Brussels Airlines :

http://trends.rnews.be/fr/economie/actu ... 302813.htm

Lufthansa will take a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines as a first step, and would reserve the opportunity to redeem the remaining 55% from 2011. The first tranche of the transaction would involve an amount of EUR 65 million, and the price of the second tranche will depend on the future performance of Brussels Airlines, but will exceed not EUR 185 million.

Lufthansa confirmed in August that "the goal is collaboration with Brussels Airlines, as a company operating independently within the Lufthansa Group".

I don't see the point of changing again the name of the company. Ryanair is not a very attractive name, but it has never changed and is now a very well known trade mark.
Besides, I am not sure that a name that is much German related would be enthusiastically received by the Belgian. Germany is not over popular here around, especially amongst the mature people ...

[azingrew]

Sorry, realy off topic, but to complete info about Pan-Am ( for megaman) here's something. Was wondering if same could be done to resurect SABENA.
Reuse of name
The Pan Am brand was resurrected four times after 1991, but the reincarnations were related to the original Pan Am in name only.
In November 2010 Pan American Airways, Inc. was resurrected for a fifth time. The company's inaugural flight was to Monterrey, Mexico on November 12, 2010.[70] The airline has said it will carry cargo only at this stage but intends to announce passenger service by 2011.[71]
[edit]Airlines
The first operated from 1996 to 1998, with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean with the IATA airline designator PN.


Pan Am Clipper Guilford (N342PA), Boeing 727
The second was unrelated to the first and was a small regional carrier based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that operated between 1998 and 2004. It found its niche in operating usually at smaller airports near major airports, such as Pease International (Portsmouth), and Gary Municipal Airport, in Indiana. It used the IATA code PA, and the ICAO code PAA.
Boston-Maine Airways, a sister company of the second reincarnation, operated the "Pan Am Clipper Connection" brand from 2004 to February 2008.
A domestic airline in the Dominican Republic, descended from the company's first reincarnation, continues to trade as Pan Am Dominicana.
Pan American Airways and World-Wide Consolidated Logistics, Inc. will open cargo service to Latin America in 2011.

[shockcooling]

Please change the name of this topic

[FlightMate]

Do they really need to take over 100%?
I mean, they already control the airline, with only 45% of the shares. Nobody takes decisions without first consulting with LH.

Of course it makes sense to take over if they think SN will keep on valuating. But I think the most important component was to have SN under control, and not under the control of a competitor.