Belgian flag carrier SN Brussels Airlines is expected to post first- half results this month showing its African operations have reached profitability ahead of its core European network. The Brussels-based airline has talked about absorbing Birdy Airlines, its wet-lease partner on the African routes.
SN Brussels senior vice- president commercial for Europe Rudy Maex says the load factor on the company's 13 routes to Africa has averaged over 80% since the beginning of the year. The company is also carrying around 40,000t of cargo a year on the routes, much of it under an agreement with European Cargo Services.
SN Brussels' European routes, which have been expanded with new services to London and Budapest, have experienced load factors of around 67% over the past two months and the company is confident of meeting its targets, says Maex. However, African destinations started to make money at the end of last year, and a third Airbus A330-300 was wet-leased from Birdy last October to meet demand. Maex says the quasi-monopoly of Air France on West African routes following the collapse of Air Afrique provided an easy market to penetrate.
SN Brussels chairman Rob Kuijpers told Flight International sister online service Air Transport Intelligence that shareholders are considering taking up an option to buy its wet-lease partner Birdy Airlines when its current contract comes up for renewal in October 2004. Birdy was set up by two Belgian businessmen solely to provide SN Brussels's African network. Kuijpers says that the carrier will have six to eight months to make a decision, but will begin accessing the option at the end of this year.
Source: Flight International
