Brussels Airlines

[TheLocalYokel]

Tomorrow all three departures (SN2060 at 0605, SN2056 at 1035 and SN2058 at 1730) are all showing 'self check-in' on the BRS website departures page. For the past (nearly) three weeks they have always been shown as 'cancelled'.

That was for Monday of this week (11 April) and all three rotations did operate on that day.

Tuesday 12th saw the first two rotations of the day operate but the third one (evening) did not.

Today the BRS website shows the first rotation (early morning) cancelled whereas the late morning outbound is shown as 'departed'. However, its return working is shown as 'cancelled'. The evening outbound is also shown as 'cancelled' but its return is not. It would seem therefore that the second outbound flight will remain at BRU to operate the the third inbound.

Clearly, the BRU situation is far from settled.

 

[tpm]

There was an article in Politico.eu last week that talked about BRU operating at reduced capacity "with 125 less departing flights than normal per day".

 

[alphagolf]

That was for Monday of this week (11 April) and all three rotations did operate on that day.

Tuesday 12th saw the first two rotations of the day operate but the third one (evening) did not.

Today the BRS website shows the first rotation (early morning) cancelled whereas the late morning outbound is shown as 'departed'. However, its return working is shown as 'cancelled'. The evening outbound is also shown as 'cancelled' but its return is not. It would seem therefore that the second outbound flight will remain at BRU to operate the the third inbound.

Clearly, the BRU situation is far from settled.

There have been disruptions due to social action by BelgoControl, Brussels Airlines have mentioned on Twitter they would be running a reduced schedule and had already cancelled 50 flights this morning, with a view that more could be cancelled if the action continues.

 

[Aviador]

I don't know if anybody can confirm?

From what I gather the airport check-in hall that was affected by the recent terrorist attacks is still out of action and passenger bags are having to be screened in a temoporary facility.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Interesting movement this evening.

BRS website is showing SN 2057 from BRU due 1700 cancelled and SN 2058 to BRU at 1730 also cancelled, with both being due to be operated by a bmir regional E45.

The return of SN 2058 (SN 2059, due 2130) is shown by FR 24 as being operated by Brussels Airlines ARJ, OO-DWC, and it landed at 2141.

The presumption is that the bmir E45 went tech and the ARJ brought the passengers for both SN 2057 and SN 2059 to BRS.

 

[alphagolf]

flybmi are maintaining their BM2*** flight numbers on the BRS - BRU route for Winter 18/19, having checked the Brussels Airlines booking engine the flights remain as SN44** flight numbers until the start of the Summer '19 schedule when it reverts to Brussels Airlines SN20** flight numbers while the flybmi flight numbers become BM60**.

Also posted on the flybmi thread.......

 

[Severn]

Looks like Brussels Airlines will be using a CityJet RJ85 on the BRS-BRU route from 1st April 2019.
The RJ85 will operate on all 17x departures a week and will overnight every night except Saturdays.
It will operate very nearly the same times as the BMR E145s operate currently:
3x daily departures Mo-Fr,
1x departure on a Sat morning (no arrivals)
1x departure on a Sun evening (2x arrivals)

 

[Kernow Bravo]

That's a significant increase in capacity if they retain the current frequencies - at a time when theoretically O&D demand on that route could be reducing!

Not sure if that 1/4 date is to coincide with the summer schedules....or something else!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Looks like Brussels Airlines will be using a CityJet RJ85 on the BRS-BRU route from 1st April 2019.
The RJ85 will operate on all 17x departures a week and will overnight every night except Saturdays.
It will operate very nearly the same times as the BMR E145s operate currently:
3x daily departures Mo-Fr,
1x departure on a Sat morning (no arrivals)
1x departure on a Sun evening (2x arrivals)

Sabena and its successors used Bae146/ARJ85 aircraft on BRS-BRU at one time. Frequency was up to 4 x daily at times! I flew BRS-BRU-BRS on an ARJ85 in 2007.

 

[superking]

It makes you wonder how the BRU route will perform pax wise when we pull out of Europe.I would say the BRU route is not the high pax route from any of the UK airports that operate BRU.

 

[Jerry]

It may well be a route that mostly relies on onward connections.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It makes you wonder how the BRU route will perform pax wise when we pull out of Europe.I would say the BRU route is not the high pax route from any of the UK airports that operate BRU.

CAA 2017 passenger stats from UK to BRU. The routes at the bottom of the list are obviously occasional routes.

LHR 651,009
MAN 215,377
BHX 152,510
EDI 107,943
BRS 60,470
NCL 24,038
EMA 23,034
BHD 3,865
LGW 2,240
GLA 1,182
STN 366
CWL 178
EXT 99
PIK 83
DSA 48

In addition the following figures relate to Charleroi.

MAN 189,907
EDI 76,543
GLA 30,645

 

[superking]

World wide connections from BRU not very good,as this is why load factures struggle.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I was checking the Brussels Airlines website this evening and when I came to the booking engine I was confronted with this notice:

Due to the ceased operations of our partner airline FlyBMI, all flights to and from Bristol are canceled (sic) until further notice.
Close

Yet there is a full programme available to book from 31 March with CityJet as the carrier for Brussels Airlines. It seems an odd statement to make as some potential bookers for flights on/after 31 March will see the notice and might not go any further with their booking.

 

[superking]

I was checking the Brussels Airlines website this evening and when I came to the booking engine I was confronted with this notice:

Due to the ceased operations of our partner airline FlyBMI, all flights to and from Bristol are canceled (sic) until further notice.
Close

Yet there is a full programme available to book from 31 March with CityJet as the carrier for Brussels Airlines. It seems an odd statement to make as some potential bookers for flights on/after 31 March will see the notice and might not go any further with their booking.

Perhaps the guy that put the notice on the website did not look for any updates as to what has been planned for quite some time.The notice could have been worded differently to cut out the feeling that the route will not operate again.
Just a thought about the poster,i don't suppose he works for any news paper group in the UK,if that is the case then it explains why the notice is negative lol.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I was checking the Brussels Airlines website this evening and when I came to the booking engine I was confronted with this notice:

Due to the ceased operations of our partner airline FlyBMI, all flights to and from Bristol are canceled (sic) until further notice.
Close

Yet there is a full programme available to book from 31 March with CityJet as the carrier for Brussels Airlines. It seems an odd statement to make as some potential bookers for flights on/after 31 March will see the notice and might not go any further with their booking.

The notice I referred to is no longer present when BRS-BRU bookings are explored BUT the CityJet-operated service seems to have been delayed until 1 May. Test bookings for April reveal no flights.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I contacted BRS this evening via their website enquiry form and asked if there was any further news about the CEO's statement made on the local telly news on Monday 18 February when he said he was confident that an announcement would be made that week (ie last week) regarding one of the flybmi routes that would involve a European airline. I also asked about the apparent delayed restart of the BRS-BRU service pushed back from 31 March to 1 May.

Within five minutes I received the below reply from someone in the Customer Experience Team. It will be seen that the reply is a generic one obviously sent to anyone who mentions flybmi in an enquiry. It even tells me something I'd already mentioned in my email to them, ie that flybmi has ceased operations.

I wasn't expecting confidential commercial information, merely some clarification on what was already in the public domain, ie the CEO's statement about a replacement carrier for one of the flybmi routes and the changing restart dates for BRS-BRU. The airport could not even be bothered to address the specific points I raised. I find that extremely discourteous. Unfortunately, it's not the first time in recent years that an enquiry of mine has been ignored. I wrote a long letter to the previous CEO on various matters and in the absence of any reply I chased up the matter after a few weeks. That resulted in a short and desultory reply from one of the staff that didn't even attempt to answer any of my points - much like this evening.

I resolved then not to waste my time contacting the airport about anything in future but broke my own rule this evening. I shan't be breaking it again.

There was a time when BRS valued its customers and would always address specific queries, with replies invariably signed by the likes of Les Wilson, John Parkin and Andrew Skipp in their respective times. Sadly, they seem to treat us with disdain these days. I've said previously that BRS has become too corporate for its own good. It's no longer a friendly local airport that will interact with customers. I derive no pleasure in saying that.

Anyway, this was the reply I received this evening.

Thank you for contacting Bristol Airport today regarding your concerns.

We regret to inform passengers that Flybmi has ceased operations and has filed for administration.

All scheduled Flybmi flights have now cancelled.

Advice for customers booked onto Flybmi flights is available from their website:
www.flybmi.com/en/press

The main points from the press release are as follows:

Customers who booked directly with Flybmi should contact their payment card issuer to obtain a refund for flights which have not yet taken place.

Customers who have booked Flybmi flights via a travel agent or one of Flybmi’s codeshare partner airlines are recommended to contact their agent or airline for details of options available to them.

Customers who have travel insurance should contact their travel insurance provider to find out if they are eligible to claim for cancelled flights and the procedure for doing so.


Customers are advised not to come to the airport unless you have booked a flight with an alternative airline

The Civil Aviation Authority have also issued some advice for travellers:
https://www.caa.co.uk/News/Advice-t...ional-Limited-(FlyBMI)-suspending-operations/

Bristol Airport will enter discussions with a range of airlines to replace these flights, where there is proven demand from the region.

I hope you find this information of use when planning your travel arrangements.

 

[alphagolf]

I contacted BRS this evening via their website enquiry form and asked if there was any further news about the CEO's statement made on the local telly news on Monday 18 February when he said he was confident that an announcement would be made that week (ie last week) regarding one of the flybmi routes that would involve a European airline. I also asked about the apparent delayed restart of the BRS-BRU service pushed back from 31 March to 1 May.

Within five minutes I received the below reply from someone in the Customer Experience Team. It will be seen that the reply is a generic one obviously sent to anyone who mentions flybmi in an enquiry. It even tells me something I'd already mentioned in my email to them, ie that flybmi has ceased operations.

I wasn't expecting confidential commercial information, merely some clarification on what was already in the public domain, ie the CEO's statement about a replacement carrier for one of the flybmi routes and the changing restart dates for BRS-BRU. The airport could not even be bothered to address the specific points I raised. I find that extremely discourteous. Unfortunately, it's not the first time in recent years that an enquiry of mine has been ignored. I wrote a long letter to the previous CEO on various matters and in the absence of any reply I chased up the matter after a few weeks. That resulted in a short and desultory reply from one of the staff that didn't even attempt to answer any of my points - much like this evening.

I resolved then not to waste my time contacting the airport about anything in future but broke my own rule this evening. I shan't be breaking it again.

There was a time when BRS valued its customers and would always address specific queries, with replies invariably signed by the likes of Les Wilson, John Parkin and Andrew Skipp in their respective times. Sadly, they seem to treat us with disdain these days. I've said previously that BRS has become too corporate for its own good. It's no longer a friendly local airport that will interact with customers. I derive no pleasure in saying that.

Anyway, this was the reply I received this evening.

Thank you for contacting Bristol Airport today regarding your concerns.

We regret to inform passengers that Flybmi has ceased operations and has filed for administration.

All scheduled Flybmi flights have now cancelled.

Advice for customers booked onto Flybmi flights is available from their website:
www.flybmi.com/en/press

The main points from the press release are as follows:

Customers who booked directly with Flybmi should contact their payment card issuer to obtain a refund for flights which have not yet taken place.

Customers who have booked Flybmi flights via a travel agent or one of Flybmi’s codeshare partner airlines are recommended to contact their agent or airline for details of options available to them.

Customers who have travel insurance should contact their travel insurance provider to find out if they are eligible to claim for cancelled flights and the procedure for doing so.


Customers are advised not to come to the airport unless you have booked a flight with an alternative airline

The Civil Aviation Authority have also issued some advice for travellers:
https://www.caa.co.uk/News/Advice-t...ional-Limited-(FlyBMI)-suspending-operations/

Bristol Airport will enter discussions with a range of airlines to replace these flights, where there is proven demand from the region.

I hope you find this information of use when planning your travel arrangements.

I posed a question via twitter and got the following response:-

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1100408105223901184

 

[superking]

Localyokel the comment you said about the airport that they have be come unfriendly towards customers and the general public, is some thing I been banging on about for months. To get to the situation they have adopted can only come from the top management of the airport. I do feel jealous of CWL on their news as no matter what it is it tells every one and it keeps the airport fresh in every ones minds,where as BRS is totally the other way.No doubt i will keep banging on about this subject in the hope the airports stance on this subject changes,but i wont hold my breath over it.

 

[Marko1]

I feel exactly the same way. I also contacted the airport via social media with the same response. The longer it’s going on the less likely I feel anyone is interested in the old bmi routes. Loganair isn’t interested and if we all recall when British airways left it took a long time to get Lufthansa to launch the routes. Additionally Air France hasn’t been tempted last time so what would tempt them this time. I am also concerned with the delays to Brussels airlines and why hasn’t the airport been promoting it. People are asking about about the resumption of the Brussels route and the airports answer is negotiations are continuing. The route has been available for months