SN Brussels Airlines to fly from Charleroi CRL ?

[cnc]

BA has also LCY , not only CJ even the most important one BA001 to JFK

yes but they are not based at LCY, all BA flight crew flying from LCY checks in/out at LHR

[Megaman]

I believe they could quite easily transfer flights which are not feeder flights for the longhaul. Ryanair has proved that you can open destinations from Brussels south, and have high occupation rates and profitability as a cherry on the cake.

How about a feeder flight arriving at BRU in the morning, departing from BRU, arriving in another destination, returning to CRL, leaving again to another destination and arriving the next day at Bru to feed the long haul again. Looks like it could work. And if traffic increases sufficiently, transit means will increase as well. I paid 62 EUR to go to BRU from brussels on Sunday. I'm sure I can find taxis in CRL which will ask for the same amount to go to CRL instead.

Taking 20 minutes to drive to the airport or 45 is not really the issue. I think it's more of a change in habits, and if I can get a ticket 100 EUR cheaper, I would be stupid not to do this. BRU is a nice airport, but appears so inefficient. Such huge terminals, and people so scarce. Such a structure ends up costing more to the customer.

[Conti764]

Yes, it is like that, but isn't it a mistake ? The market is there and ryanair has proved it. Other companies have proved also that there is a market even in LGG and OST. And all this is something SN could have done with the right fare in the right airport. They didn't want to, maybe it was a mistake, maybe they should now rethink, maybe they will not ...

FR has already consumed that market... What destinations might be flown from CRL? Like someone said, the Virging Express network and most of those destinations are already covered by Ryanair. SN with its more expensive structure and overhead costs and its highly inefficient aircraft can never compete with Ryanairs cheap structure and brand new B738's... They'd have to offer lower fares then FR, which will make them bleed money. Don't forget the more comfortable A319/A320 aircraft are highly needed to fly the premium markets which would still be flown from BRU, which makes SN ending up with fuel thirsty 737 classics against Ryanair and JAF with a young and efficient fleet.

I have personnally no preference, CRL is now a decent airport. I still fly 80% of my flights from BRU, but it's only because of the destination choice.
Many holiday people would choose the closest or the cheapest, without thinking more. By Using a smaller airport, half of the benefit would go to the airline and the other half to the pax. This model is already working, now SN can decide what they want.

60% of the population lives in the North of Belgium, meaning to 60% of the market CRL is further away then BRU. Even if you take foreigners into account, the biggest part of the market lives North of BRU, making it a longer trip to go to CRL. No problem if you can fly dirt cheap with FR but not preferred when flying with SN, which doesn't imply a lower price then flying from BRU, on SN or one of its competitors.

if i'm not mistaken, the walloon region is a shareholder of SN (only 2%), so it does make sense they suggest something to make them make more money (or loose less).

Agreed, but I am not convinced moving to CRL will make SN healthier... FR is a bad example since that company uses a totally different business plan, works much more efficient and has far less overhead costs, let alone their efficient fleet. SN can never compete with them, making it an unfair battle to the advantage of Ryanair. SN has no choice but to stay and consolidate at BRU. Though I'm convinced the airport should give incentives to SN to help their home carrier to do well. Loosing SN would mean dropping back to early 2000's passengers figures. I hope BRU management realises it.

[Flanker]

Acid Drop, if we want to stretch it really far and we want to exercise our brains with useless speculation, your suggestion of moving SN to CRL can be done. If you do move it though, you have to move everything, including long-haul. A split hub system doesn't work for an airline as small as SN, working with a network system.

Another condition and probably the most important condition you need to fulfill is that CRL will have to tell Ryanair to pack their bags and go away.

Yet another condition is that you have a fast connection to Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Paris-Amsterdam.
The connections must have times within 50% of current travel times where possible and must be very convenient to use.

The only thing I can't resolve at this point is the issue that BRU will become a wide open market for any new competitor and for existing competitors at BRU. I can think of AZ/AP on the Italy routes, SK on the Scandinavian, BA to the UK, IB to Spain, and so on...
You can compete with lower prices from CRL, but you lose some high yield pax because of the inconvenience, etc...
Well, there is a way to solve this problem, but it's one that the teachers in Ontario aren't going to like: reduce and restrict BRU to a "City" airport and make CRL the main Brussels Airport.

It goes without telling that I'm leaving out all the operational details as this is just a conceptual idea.
Can it be done? Probably.
Can it be done in SN's current financial situation? Not a chance in the world.

[Acid-drop]

First of all, let me tell you i'm only debating an idea which isn't mine. I don't even believe it can actually be done. Maybe only for some very specific kind of trafic, holiday trafic, which do not need hub and spoke, and 10% seems a good reasonable small start. I don't believe in anything more and I don't even wish anything more.

I don't even want to debate the whole BRU vs CRL, because that's not the idea, we talk about 10% and very specific trafic.
Now, I also believe that if SN or BRU isn't changing anything, they will eventually lose that kind of trafic.
The remark about the efficiency of the planes is indeed very important.

restrict BRU to a "City" airport and make CRL the main Brussels Airport.

That will never happen, at least not in CRL. BRU is a quality airport, just too expensive and not so adapted to some LC trafic.

[regi]

Hi,
NEVER saw one BA at STN !
CX-B

I just put it there because it was on the website of BA under its " network" .