RoMax wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 23:04
PopUp wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 22:20
Imho, the only question to be answered is, why, inside a major group like LH, SN remains in the red ? Given the apparently low wages and working conditions, why is SN is still in the red ? I don't think
It is due to a lack if commitment of their Belgian employées at all levels.
Or you could look at it from a slightly more positive angle:
- After a traditional loss in Q1 (in line with expectations-budget) SN booked a record profit for a Q2 (after Q3 in 2022 was also a record Q3 performance already - after which LH also provided SN with the funds to do the advance re-payment of the Belgian state loan/guarantee prior end 2022)
- Q3 and Q4 outlook is looking good and without unforeseen major events SN should close 2023 with quite solid black numbers (basically the first time for SN, earlier profits have been either thanks to 'luck' or with still poor margins - a 'positive break-even')
- For the first time SN has view on (so far) 5 confirmed factory new aircraft
- LH sent 2 additional A320's to SN this summer in an initially unforeseen opportunistic growth effort in BRU (aircraft that came from EW and could have easily went elsewhere in the group - but rather they saw the best use of those in BRU)
- A 9th A330 (and as already mentioned by others here...more seems to be coming) wasn't yet foreseen at this stage at time of the Covid re-organisation, but recovery is strong and LH Group wants to grow in the high-potential Africa market through SN
- SN is again after years of crisis management doing tangible investments in the product such the complete renovation of the Sunrise lounge, the new short-haul catering offer (which - in view of a lacklustre reaction on this topic already here - of course depends of flight length and time of the day, but at least in terms of concept re-alligns SN to other competitors with fresh food, real cutlery, ... instead of a packed Foodmaker salad with wood cutlery), re-introducing the highly missed 'service details' that were cut some years ago due to savings such as ice-cream on long haul and the Neuhaus gift box in long haul Business Class, etc. (and more to come) --> we are talking a cost of millions in product investments
- An easily forgotten/ignored or mis-intrepreted event: in the last 1.5 year SN (re)launched flights to FRA, MUC and ZRH. A cost-optimisation effort in the group to reduce unnecessary nightstops in each others' hubs. But while those flights might not sound sexy for the average aviation geek, they are 'not unimportant' financially wise...
And before the complaint 'of course, they 'steal' all the BRU market to the other hubs' - please have some realistic views on how airline networks works, SN can't serve the world by itself and can never become a second KLM (Sabena could have seized that strategic hub opportunity in the -70/80's but it's KLM that ran away with it before anyone else even realised what was happening)
Not sure what sort of miracles some people expect from an airline (taking with it its Sabena legacy) that was basically NEVER structurally profitable yet.
Not sure what people expect from a semi-premium network carrier based and headquartered in Belgium (with which comes the cost of all those words I used there) that gets a multi-million bottom line impact every year due to the distorted competitive landscape in Belgium where one of Ryanairs' largest continental bases (!!) is still subsidised en masse as if it's a regional remote airport reliant on the few flight activities it can get. It might be another one of Ryanair's core activities to go to court against everyone and everything, but it says something about the severety of the situation that SN files a formal complaint to the European Commission about this situation (fully supported by LH Group).
The pessimism on this forum is a bit depressing. I've been following this forum for quite a number of years now and have become very inactive posting in last years for various reasons....
Over the years plenty of people here predicted SN to go bankrupt countless times, like Ryanair (in the media) saying SN would end-up being a marginal airline that would 'if surviving' not transport more than a few million pax per year, etc. etc. Well, at the time of the rebranding in 2021 the message of SN was 'we are here to stay!' and considering all the above and with a so far for SN record financial performance in the last quarters I wouldn't say that was a statement out of ignorance or stupidity.