VLM/Cityjet abandons Antwerp-Frankfurt

[dna]

Belga news agency reports that VLM/Cityjet is abandoning its recently introduced Antwerp-Frankfurt service. Service had already been scaled back during the summer months, but the route is now being suspended completely. The airline remains committed to its London and Manchester services from Antwerp.

[Acid-drop]

I guess the Brussels-Frankfurt by high speed train in 3h12 (2h56 for the airport) since the recent opening of the high speed line between Liège and the german border is not so good for them ... (it's only 3x/day though)

[JOVAN]

Not surprising really.

There is no logic in an ANR-FRA connection by a member of Skyteam.

FRA is Star Alliance territory, and only some big non-Star alliance players can be successful there

Let VLM further develop it British destinations, and hope they will not suffer too much from Eurostar competition.

And some day they will have to replace their Fokkers.

[LX-LGX]

Antwerp-based newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen confirms this:
http://www.gva.be/antwerpen/deurne/city ... kfurt.aspx

Strange decision, because till today, VLM Airlines was having a radio spot and a small competition on local radio Radio Minerva. First and only price: 2 return tickets ANR-FRA...

It's obvious that the decisions are not taken in Antwerp anymore.

[Shanti]

bad news especially for the VLM pilots and VLM cabin crew

[summersso]

Why don't they fly from Antwerp to CDG (or AMS, although I know this is only 1h45mins away by train) and feed AF/KLM and other SkyTeam partners? Seems logical to me... pls explain!

[NCB]

ANR-CDG could work very well indeed, with 100% feeding capacity.
The key is timing, if they can time to arrive around a morning longhaul rush and leave nog long after the rush, they can fill both ways with ease.

Feeding doesn't yield anything, but 3 daily return flights can fill a widebody flight!

Antwerp is a 2.5 million people catchement area, and if we include Brussels, a 4 million people catchement area...makes alot of sense

[Atlantis]

Why don't they fly from Antwerp to CDG (or AMS, although I know this is only 1h45mins away by train) and feed AF/KLM and other SkyTeam partners? Seems logical to me... pls explain!

Short routes are going to disappear in future. High speed train will take over these pax between the major important cities like AMS, BRU, FRA, PAR and many others.

VLM suffer a long time on the routes between ANR and London due to the train.

ANR-CDG could work very well indeed, with 100% feeding capacity.
The key is timing, if they can time to arrive around a morning longhaul rush and leave nog long after the rush, they can fill both ways with ease.

Feeding doesn't yield anything, but 3 daily return flights can fill a widebody flight!

Antwerp is a 2.5 million people catchement area, and if we include Brussels, a 4 million people catchement area...makes alot of sense

And why isn't Air France flying this "great route"? The only carrier between BRU and CDG is SN with only one or two flights a day. Ex. AMS and FRA and many other cities has multiple flights to BRU. BTW, CDG is well offered via gare du midi with, I think, 7 trains a day.

Air France is a very big absence at BRU, almost zero. This says enough.

[NCB]

As a passenger, I would prefer to take a flight from ANR, drop off my luggage at ANR to not see it again until I reach my final destination, so I can relax my way up to CDG.
The issue is that Thalys does not operate to CDG and the TGV that does, does not operate to Antwerp.

The reason why Air France is not operating to ANR is because before they acquired VG they didn't have a reason to operate the route, but with VG in their hands now they do. I guess changes take time to implement (AP for instance, is still codesharing with LH) but unless there comes a direct Thalys connection to CDG (unlikely), I think that a ANR-CDG line could be in the works.

The future of the AMS-BRU service by KLM is also a ticking clock:

Opening of new high-speed Thalys track in September 2009

Amsterdam-Rotterdam 0:43 (currently 0:58)
Amsterdam-Breda 0:59 (currently 1:44)
Amsterdam-Antwerp 1:10 (currently 2:00)
Amsterdam-Brussels 1:44 (currently 2:40)
Amsterdam-Paris 3:13 (currently 4:11)[2]
The Hague-Brussels 1:44 (currently 2:17)
Breda-Brussels 0:59 (currently 1:44)

From Wikipedia

[Acid-drop]

AirFrance/KLM plans to have their own high speed train in the future, so it's clear where we're going

[SN_fan]

Flying is much more fun, than those TGVs.
If I want to take the train, I'll buy a ticket in the station.
If I want to take a flight, I'll buy a ticket at an airline.
+ If you're taking the train to a connecting flight, you should be able to check-in your bags at the station, so you won't have carry your bags to a drop off before your connecting flight.
The airline is a service industry, and unless your name is Ryanair, you should offer service.

just my 2Cents