15 December 2003 08:42
SN Brussels Airlines circling for a CE expansion
With European Union enlargement on the arrivals board, Belgian SN Brussels Airlines is speeding up its marketing
efforts to attract a larger share of the Central European market, Peter Davies, Chief Executive Officer of SN Brussels
Airlines, said at a news conference in Prague last week. The airline is in the middle of a Central European expansion,
anticipating a major increase in passenger numbers from Prague starting in May when the Czech Republic joins the EU.
"We see a great future in Prague, which has a good chance to emerge as the region's new [airport] hub,"
Davies said. "I was impressed by the Prague airport, where all the facilities have been growing. Our relation with
[the local carrier] Czech Airlines [CSA] will strengthen even more." SN Brussels Airlines flies four times a day
between Brussels and Prague in cooperation with CSA. Davies wouldn't say what the loading on Prague flights is now.
"I look at the airline business with the eye of a businessman," he said. "The load factor [on this route]
is increasing constantly. But this isn't important. Load factor is a myth. Sabena got bankrupted with a 70 percent
load factor." He would only say that Prague is a "very profitable route." With demand expected to grow
next year, the airline will increase capacity. But Davies said the airline in cooperation with CSA would first introduce
bigger aircraft on the route, instead of adding flights. CSA and SN Brussels Airlines fly medium-capacity planes of
around 100 seats, such as the Boeing 737 and Avro, respectively, on the route. SN Brussels Airlines will probably use
Prague in the future as its hub airport to connect Brussels with other Eastern European destinations, Davies said.
"Prague can become our hub airport for the region," he said. "Of course, it has important competitors,
such as Budapest airport or the well-established Vienna [International] Airport." The airline is focusing now on
covering Central and Eastern Europe. It launched a daily flight on the route Budapest-Brussels in late October. It flies
four times a day to Warsaw, five times a week to Zagreb and Split, Croatia, and three times a week to Kiev, Ukraine. It
is preparing to launch of flights to Moscow. SN Brussels Airlines caters to business travelers, and "price and
time-sensitive travelers," Davies said. The company wants to be a hybrid between low-cost and traditional airlines.
"Low-cost airlines did a fantastic job by creating this low-cost myth because it made more people fly," Davies
said. "For example, 80 percent of those who didn't fly at all [before the low-cost airlines came to existence]
are now flying." SN Brussels Airlines offers typical low-cost services such as Web sales and one-way fares as well
as traditional services such as flights to premium airports and in-flight comfort. Reacting to the aggressive marketing
of no-frills airlines, SN Brussels Airlines has maintained a humorous line in its ad campaigns in Belgium. For example,
one of its print ads has the slogan, "Drinks are on the crew." Another print ad features a stewardess in a
mini-skirt, wearing rubber galoshes and leaving traces of mud on the plane's alley, suggesting that the meals
served are fresh unlike on no-frills airline where travelers have to pay for junk food. SN Brussels Airlines is the
continuation of the Belgian flag carrier Sabena, which went bankrupt in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. The airline, born in Feb. 2002, operates a considerably reduced fleet. It has 38 aircraft compared with the 87
of Sabena. It flies 3.2 million passengers a year, three times fewer than those flown by Sabena. The company's only
link with the past is the "S" from Sabena's logo on the tail of SN Brussels Airlines' planes, and,
of course, the chocolates it offers to all its passengers.
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