Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

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BTaviation
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Joined: 23 May 2020, 20:05

Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by BTaviation »

Hi, I’ve been reading this forum for a long time but never posted anything. Before the pandemic there were some intresting speculations about potential new routes... I would like to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on this.

- I remember Brussels government visiting Chengdu. It was said that passenger flights would begin at the end of 2020 - when the new Airport in Chengdu opens - I can imagine this will be put on the long run since China is hit hard by the virus.

- To stay in China, there were people saying that Tianjin Airlines was looping to start flights to Iceland. Via Helsinki or Brussels.

- United would be starting San Francisco, talks were in a far stage. Did COVID-19 heavily affect these plans?

- When Singapore was announced I found an article with Arnaud Feist saying he expected Bogota and Sao Paulo in some months... I really don’t think we should expect anything from Avianca. But where are we with LATAM?

- Also there are some start ups I could see in BRU; Bamboo Airways plans to expand in Europe. For now they’re not going for the big hubs like LHR, CDG, etc. Munich was announced in the middle of the pandemic so they clearly have growth plans Could this benefit BRU? Air Tanzania is looking at Europe, since Tanzania isn’t served from BRU maybe this could be one. Air Senegal plans to become the Ethiopian of west Africa and is also looking at Europe.

- Shanghai is now unserved. China Eastern could be the one to replace Hainan. Why not with Shanghai Airlines? Juneyao Airlines - based in PVG - is a star alliance connecting partner so that could be intresting.

I know this is all very unrealistic but since there is so much debate about SN why shouldn’t there be about BRU?

Again I am just an aviation enthousiast and I have no idea what is going on behind closed doors. This is a forum where aviation enthousiasts discuss all kinds of aviation related stuff. I think we should dream about BRU after the pandemic and take this as an oppurtunity to take a step forward and keep up with other growing star alliance hubs in Europe. Hopefully we can make this actieve topic were we discuss these things and not only criticise the BRU management.

nordikcam
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Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by nordikcam »

I will refrain from commenting not being informed. On the other hand, I am in close contact with Brazil and Latam is in very bad shape. I don't see Brazil recovering quickly. I do not see GRU directly served immediately.

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sn26567
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Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by sn26567 »

Welcome to Aviation24.be, BTaviation. And thanks for opening a topic which should be interesting.

However, under present circumstances, I do not see any airline opening new routes to Brussels. On the contrary, airlines tend to rather abandon some routes, or delay the launch of already announced routes.
André
ex Sabena #26567

lucas
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Joined: 01 Feb 2017, 15:06

Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by lucas »

BTaviation wrote: 23 May 2020, 20:40 Air Tanzania is looking at Europe, since Tanzania isn’t served from BRU maybe this could be one.
Tanzania is connected to Brussels, as TUI has direct flights to Zanzibar. I think you mean mainland Tanzania, which should then mean flights to Dar-Es-Salaam and/or Kilimanjaro. Well, if everything goes well, we might have flights with Brussels Airlines to Kilimanjaro :D. Although this might not be really realistic, but I will leave this to the other topics in this forum.

Passenger
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Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by Passenger »

BTaviation wrote: 23 May 2020, 20:40 I think we should dream about BRU after the pandemic and take this as an oppurtunity to take a step forward and keep up with other growing star alliance hubs in Europe.
Unfortunately, we are still far away from "after the pandemic". The daily bulletins are still showing a lot of new cases and fatalities, and that frightens off many people. Actually, a few weeks ago the largest Flemish travel agent said that fear-of-flying will exist largely till there is a vaccin. On top, travel restrictions and closed attractions and facilities cause that a lot people don't want to go on holiday right now. And to make it all worse, a lot of our frequent flyers have suffered financially from the pandemic. Their travel budget is now cut.

Hence I follow André (sn26567) that there won't be growth soon, and that recovery will take long:
sn26567 wrote: 23 May 2020, 22:24 ...However, under present circumstances, I do not see any airline opening new routes to Brussels. On the contrary, airlines tend to rather abandon some routes, or delay the launch of already announced routes.

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Atlantis
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Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by Atlantis »

BTaviation wrote: 23 May 2020, 20:40 Hi, I’ve been reading this forum for a long time but never posted anything. Before the pandemic there were some intresting speculations about potential new routes... I would like to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on this.

- I remember Brussels government visiting Chengdu. It was said that passenger flights would begin at the end of 2020 - when the new Airport in Chengdu opens - I can imagine this will be put on the long run since China is hit hard by the virus.

- To stay in China, there were people saying that Tianjin Airlines was looping to start flights to Iceland. Via Helsinki or Brussels.

- United would be starting San Francisco, talks were in a far stage. Did COVID-19 heavily affect these plans?

- When Singapore was announced I found an article with Arnaud Feist saying he expected Bogota and Sao Paulo in some months... I really don’t think we should expect anything from Avianca. But where are we with LATAM?

- Also there are some start ups I could see in BRU; Bamboo Airways plans to expand in Europe. For now they’re not going for the big hubs like LHR, CDG, etc. Munich was announced in the middle of the pandemic so they clearly have growth plans Could this benefit BRU? Air Tanzania is looking at Europe, since Tanzania isn’t served from BRU maybe this could be one. Air Senegal plans to become the Ethiopian of west Africa and is also looking at Europe.

- Shanghai is now unserved. China Eastern could be the one to replace Hainan. Why not with Shanghai Airlines? Juneyao Airlines - based in PVG - is a star alliance connecting partner so that could be intresting.

I know this is all very unrealistic but since there is so much debate about SN why shouldn’t there be about BRU?

Again I am just an aviation enthousiast and I have no idea what is going on behind closed doors. This is a forum where aviation enthousiasts discuss all kinds of aviation related stuff. I think we should dream about BRU after the pandemic and take this as an oppurtunity to take a step forward and keep up with other growing star alliance hubs in Europe. Hopefully we can make this actieve topic were we discuss these things and not only criticise the BRU management.
Hi BTaviation, welcome to this forum and bringing this topic.

There is in meantime a lot changed. Starting up a new route now costs really a lot of money. Money which airlines now need to survive, to pay their people, planes they are not using anymore etc. This costs a lot, for an airline it is now priority to clean their own ship, fleet and destinations map. This will take a lot of time.

For new routes to BRU, and I'm speaking about long haul, we have to wait for some time. New short haul are already announced and will continue.

LATAM is taken over by Delta. They will survive but Avianca is almost bancrupt. So to Brazil will be not soon new pax flights.

But it does not mean that there is no contact. Each interesting airline is on the radar or the negotiations are in a far approach. But like I said, we don't know when the borders will be open, how will be the demand, etc.

It is really dual. This week the first flight of Lufthansa took off from Frankfurt to Athens and the flight was sold out in no time. And there were no restrictions regarding leaving seats empty, no, every was taken.

So, we have to see how the Belgian consument will react. Good indication will be the flights to Spain. People starts to complain that they want to fly again..

TLspotting
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Re: Impact of COVID-19 in BRU network development

Post by TLspotting »

I can be wrong but :
Shenzhen route no more for BRU this summer
Thessaloniki route by A3 seems to be postponed... (via their booking systems but I would like someone to confirm)
Hi. I'm Thibault Lapers. @ThibaultLapers & @TLspotting

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