Is Branson considering long haul flights from BRU to Asia and America? This would be excellent news...
Maybe a bit off topic, but I wanted to ask this already for some time: VS codeshares on the BRU-LHR run with BD. But BRU is not listed in the list of destinations on the Virgin Atlantic website. Why are Belgian people not allowed to fly to for example NRT via LHR on VS, with the first and last leg done by BD?
PS: will those long haul flights be low cost, or full service like Virgin Atlantic? I'm hoping for the second...
Kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11948 posts, RR: 37 Reply 1, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 2450 times:
It wouldn't surprise me; the new bilateral between the EU and US would allow any airline from any EU country to operate from any point in the EU to any point in the US, so ownership restrictions would be lifted. This would allow VS to set up in Brussels and I think they'd do pretty well; there's big potential for intercontinental routes from Brussels, not just to the US, but elsewhere as well.
340s would be ideal, possibly even 332s.
It would be a full VS service, not a low cost operation, if it went ahead.
Airplanetire From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1809 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 2213 times:
How long is it projected to take for us to see this bilateral agreement materialize (or fall apart?)?
Apuneger From Belgium, joined Sep 2000, 3026 posts, RR: 13 Reply 4, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 2182 times:
Well, it sure would be quite interesting to see some new long haul pax traffic at BRU. The more the merrier I'd say! However, although he appeared to have said 'from BRU', isn't it possible he really did mean 'from BRU to LHR and from there on'? Let's hope he's really thinking of starting up new routes direct from BRU. That would be great.
As Sabena 690 already mentioned, I think it would be best for them to use Virgin Express as a feeder for this new service they want to offer. However, if they should want to fly long haul in a full service configuration, how do they want to combine this with Virgin Express, which is, after all, a 'low fare' operator (not a pure low cost operator according to them...). For instance, I can hardly imagine a business man from MAD would like to fly 'low fare' to BRU and then 'full service' business class to NRT. Maybe they have plans to upgrade VEX to a full service airline as well?
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31107 posts, RR: 74 Reply 5, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 2154 times:
I doubt if Branson would be able to fill it's planes with point to point traffic, it sounds impossible.
New York City, Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles from Brussels would fill with point-to-point traffic with ease. Yields, however, would be another issue, though Virgin's cost structure is well known for creating good yields out of leisure travelers.
Sabena 690 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2081 times:
MAH4546: for example NYC: more than 50% of the Sabena pax on this flight were connecting passengers, also a big part of the people flying ex-BRU on CO/DL/UA are connecting passengers.
The home market here is way too small to fill an A330/A340 to the States with point to point traffic, you only have to look at the loads VG Airlines/later Delsey Airlines had on it's American flights.
The only flight with a load factor of more than 50% was LAX. Why? Because Armenian Airlines took the biggest part of the seats, and pax flew Yerevan-Brussels-Los Angeles.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31107 posts, RR: 74 Reply 7, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1982 times:
I really don't think that looking at the loads of VG, a poorly advertised and poorly ran airline, are the right way of looking at it. How about CityBird, which filled Miami-Brussels flights daily, year-round, on point-to-point traffic? And they filled Los Angeles-Brussels flights pretty easily too.
A330DAT From Belgium, joined Nov 2001, 469 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1941 times:
The fact that Virgin (Branson) wants to fly long haul out of Brussels is actually not really "Big" news. The idea had already been mentioned in the past.
However with all the troubles in the world such as the gulf war (Iraq) and the SARS epidemic, all plans (projects) have come to a stop.
Today things are beginning to improve (very slowly) The war is over and the SARS cases seem to be diminishing (or in any case the panic has passed). This clears the way for new investment and new growth.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Brussels airport is underutilized and has great potential for growth, especially since the disappearance of it's national airline Sabena but also because major European airports are becoming more and more overcrowded and airlines are going to be on the lookout for alternatives, Brussels being right in the middle with a huge infrastructure already in place.
Sabena_690 and MAH4546 - You are both right. Any airline that would like to start long haul services out of Brussels must have a feeder network. VG Airlines was indeed a poorly advertised and poorly run airline, especially when Tony Gram took over the airline (when it became Delsey Airlines). He thought it was wasted money to pay to be included in a worldwide CRS (Computer
Reservations System) and that proved to be one of the (if not the) most fatal mistake(s). CityBird on the other hand had a little more "guts". Very good advertising campaigns and excellent prices. People were coming from all over Europe (on their own) to get to Brussels. Even by train. Once again, even in this situation they would of been more successful had they had a European feeder system in place. This, I believe is so important that it makes the difference between success and failure.
Miami, I am sure, would be a success out of brussels. Not only for Florida but because it's a major gateway to the Caribbean and South America as well. Back in the good old days when Sabena was still around, Sabena wanted to fly daily to Miami but the project was blocked by Swissair because they feared that Sabena would take away their business. Once again it's clear that the
potential is there.
Apuneger - I don't think that the difference between the Virgin Express(VEX) and Virgin Atlantic product would stop them from working together. On the contrary. I think it would be perfectly possible for VEX to continue to offer the "No Frills" product on the European flights while Virgin Atlantic offers the improved service on Long Haul. The trend more and more these days is that
companies sending their people on business trips have the tendency to put their employees in economy class for the short trips, and are switching over to business class for the longer routes. They no longer find it worthwhile to pay for an improved service on such short trips but at the same time it remains important for their employees to get the needed rest on the long flights.
It's time for someone to see the real potential here in Brussels. Will it be Virgin? They've already got a European network (feeder system) in place. To make money you must have money. If Virgin (Branson) wants to invest in a Long Haul network out of Brussels, I say good for them!
Apuneger From Belgium, joined Sep 2000, 3026 posts, RR: 13 Reply 10, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1883 times:
A330DAT: Well, I didn't look at it that way. You could be right indeed. Time will tell I guess...
By the way, today I read in the newspaper that yesterday, VEX shares declined by ~14%, even after Branson visited BRU. Apparantly, investors don't seem to believe a word he's saying. Also, they are selling their shares because they believe that the shares might get taken off the market somewhere in the near future...
OO-AOG From Switzerland, joined Dec 2000, 1426 posts, RR: 5 Reply 11, posted (9 years 10 months 3 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1872 times:
I don't think that the difference between the Virgin Express(VEX) and Virgin Atlantic product would stop them from working together
It's not really the difference of quality of service that might be the issue on linking a low cost as a feeder for a long haul conventional airline.
It's more the problem of connecting bags, waiting for transit passengers and all the obvious additional costs that would result.
Low cost philosophy has always been "we won't wait if you're late", would be interesting to see how it can work...
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