Atlantis wrote: ↑21 Mar 2020, 12:49
Finally some time to write here something after a very hectic time. Sorry if the question was already but I had no time to read everything
On our Brucargo it is now busier than ever. Really a lot of cargo flights and even more to come. There is even lack of capacity as belly cargo felt away.
Would it not be an idea, with the free airplanes of SN, to use their A330 as cargo planes? Prices for cargo are now 5 times higher than before. This could generate really a lot of money for SN in this difficult times.
We really need more cargo planes now
I've read American Airlines is doing that with the 77W bellies at the moment. Not a bad idea, considering SN's more recent A333s have an interesting cargo payload capacity.
I was thinking the same. What would be the maximum theoretical capacity of the 'new' A333's on let's say BRU-Monrovia or BRU-Kinshasa? Would it be about 40 tons cargo payload? (non-stop)
An A333 is about 40 t on 4000NM but SN has passenger aircraft, not cargo specific.
In the cargo hold you can load up to 32 ULDs. 18 LD3 in the FWD hold and 14 in the AFT hold.
Problem would be to use the main deck I guess. Getting rid of the seats is one thing but then you are still to bulk load (passenger entrance door width limitation). Also how to restrain the packages?
But most probably an opportunity indeed.
Can we imagine that one day we won't have to buy masks in China and have these produced here?
Former CEO Wilfried Van Assche would have quickly realized the potential of a biiig manufacturer of hygiene products located in Buggenhout.
Atlantis wrote: ↑21 Mar 2020, 12:49
Finally some time to write here something after a very hectic time. Sorry if the question was already but I had no time to read everything
On our Brucargo it is now busier than ever. Really a lot of cargo flights and even more to come. There is even lack of capacity as belly cargo felt away.
Would it not be an idea, with the free airplanes of SN, to use their A330 as cargo planes? Prices for cargo are now 5 times higher than before. This could generate really a lot of money for SN in this difficult times.
We really need more cargo planes now
I've read American Airlines is doing that with the 77W bellies at the moment. Not a bad idea, considering SN's more recent A333s have an interesting cargo payload capacity.
I was thinking the same. What would be the maximum theoretical capacity of the 'new' A333's on let's say BRU-Monrovia or BRU-Kinshasa? Would it be about 40 tons cargo payload? (non-stop)
And with cargo on both ways would be even more profitable. There is a huge need to/from Asia and The States/South America and Africa.
As planes will be on the ground till May, they can do the effort in preparing them for cargo.
The demand is really huge that for sure they pay you a really high price and prices are already 5 times higher.
It would be really good for their cash flow and our market will be served as well
Atlantis wrote: ↑21 Mar 2020, 12:49
Finally some time to write here something after a very hectic time. Sorry if the question was already but I had no time to read everything
On our Brucargo it is now busier than ever. Really a lot of cargo flights and even more to come. There is even lack of capacity as belly cargo felt away.
Would it not be an idea, with the free airplanes of SN, to use their A330 as cargo planes? Prices for cargo are now 5 times higher than before. This could generate really a lot of money for SN in this difficult times.
We really need more cargo planes now
I've read American Airlines is doing that with the 77W bellies at the moment. Not a bad idea, considering SN's more recent A333s have an interesting cargo payload capacity.
American is doing it with various aircraft, BA is flying 787s and 777s to India and South Asia for cargo only, Air Hong Kong is flying A330s into China and Japan, and Delta has recently announced every aircraft type is available for cargo charter. Bottom line, passenger aircraft are used to move cargo now due to the drop in supply. I've heard Lufthansa may also use some of its A340s for cargo, but no confirmation.
Boavida wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 00:08
I read that Air Belgium is flying Belgians home from Argentina. Absolutely great, but why isn't Brussels Airlines doing this?
The solution of storing freight on top of the seats is OK for transporting feather weight goods, but otherwise you might incur more costs than revenue by doing this. Removing seats and fastening freight however is easier than one might think. ULD's have the same type of rails for fastening the net that goes over the freight.
Access will be limited by the door size and or any fixed interior parts that can not be easily removed like galleys, toilets, etc.. Weight by the specific load the rail can withstand.
Then we come to the last piece of the puzzle: costs. As you might expect loading bulk freight will take longer and you'll need more people. I can hardly imagine the handling company will quote the same for a A330-200 Loaded with bulk on the maindeck as they would do with 'normal' operations with pax or ULD's. So I doubt that option will be viable for a large passenger plane. (And this is my personal hope as I would not like to be the one loading this)
So to conclude:
Would it be possible to load freight in the passenger cabin; yes
Would it cost a lot to change the plane for those ops; No, not that much
Would I like to be loading a plane with bulk on the main deck? HELL NO!!
Boavida wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 00:08
I read that Air Belgium is flying Belgians home from Argentina. Absolutely great, but why isn't Brussels Airlines doing this?
Hi, it's a wild guess, but maybe because they BRU-based A330's don't have a cargo crew rest? OO-SFP has been transferred to BRU yesterday, maybe for this purpose?
Flying cargo on the main deck on passenger aircraft is out of question now, too much work & long lead time to make this work. Flying cargo only, without passengers, is something that may be considered though...
DeltaWiskey wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 07:49
Flying cargo on the main deck on passenger aircraft is out of question now, too much work & long lead time to make this work. Flying cargo only, without passengers, is something that may be considered though...
Fire detection and fire fighting would be a huge problem when transporting cargo on the main deck.
With prices going up and cheap fuel, flying cargo only could be a temporary solution for a limited amount of aircraft indeed.
Boavida wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 00:08
I read that Air Belgium is flying Belgians home from Argentina. Absolutely great, but why isn't Brussels Airlines doing this?
Hi, it's a wild guess, but maybe because they BRU-based A330's don't have a cargo crew rest? OO-SFP has been transferred to BRU yesterday, maybe for this purpose?
Flying cargo on the main deck on passenger aircraft is out of question now, too much work & long lead time to make this work. Flying cargo only, without passengers, is something that may be considered though...
I'm no expert at all, but isn't a "cargo crew rest" normally a place in the cargo hold to rest? Why do you need a cargo crew rest, can't you just use the "normal" passenger compartment for the crew to rest?
Boavida wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 00:08
I read that Air Belgium is flying Belgians home from Argentina. Absolutely great, but why isn't Brussels Airlines doing this?
Range?
A330 of SN has not the needed range.
And support all the belgian airlines, same for TUI
Boavida wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 00:08
I read that Air Belgium is flying Belgians home from Argentina. Absolutely great, but why isn't Brussels Airlines doing this?
Range?
A330 of SN has not the needed range.
And support all the belgian airlines, same for TUI
The A330-200 , even with old PW 4000's, has about the same range of a a340-300. In fact, the 787-8 from Tui has the biggest range of all those aircraft. I don't think the range is the real culprit.
brusselsairlinesfan wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 14:11
Where are the SN aircrafts stored during the lockdown?
At some remote stands, a few are standing on taxiways and a few other are standing at the end of pier A. We don’t use that part of the terminal for the moment
Here's another youtube film of yesterday on the subjecy of loading cargo on passenger planes.
Mentioning AA,DL,LH,...
AA is using belly space only apparently , at least on the DFW-FRA run.
Brussels airlines what are you waiting for? Already now or Within a 1-2 weeks forwarders/enterprises in Belgium must be stockpiling quite some cargo on a lot of destinations they can't move for the time being because of stopped PAX-flights.
I also have some vague memories of Freddy Van Gaever showing specially shaped cargo bins (in plastic or polyester) on the seats of VLM's F-50's.His intention was to load small parcels/courier shipments on his regular pax flights. I don't know if VLM used those bins in reality though.
DeltaWiskey wrote: ↑22 Mar 2020, 07:49
Hi, it's a wild guess, but maybe because they BRU-based A330's don't have a cargo crew rest? OO-SFP has been transferred to BRU yesterday, maybe for this purpose?
...
OO-SFP is indeed planned to run SN9901 tomorrow.
Leaving BRU at 0900, arriving DSS at 1410.
Maybe a repatriation flight. Return after a 2-hour turnaround and no overnight for the crew as this could be a single shot.