JUSTIN WASTNAGE / BRUSSELS
Sabena successor wants to phase out around five regional jets every 12 months, starting later this year
SN Brussels Airlines has launched a fleet-renewal study to evaluate its regional jet requirements as it prepares to retire its BAe 146s and BAE Systems Avro RJs.
The Belgian carrier, which was created a year ago from Delta Air Transport to replace bankrupt Sabena, will start retiring its fleet of six BAe 146s, 14 Avro RJ85s and 12 Avro RJ100s at a rate of around five a year from later in 2003. This will start with the removal of four RJ85s which are being returned to the lessor this year.
Peter Davies, SN Brussels chief executive, says a study has just begun to define its future fleet requirements which should be completed by the end of the year. The carrier is poised to put the first of three ex-Sabena Airbus A319s into service, and currently wet leases three A330-300s from Belgian charter airline Birdy for its 13 African routes. However, Davies says, "fleet commonality is desirable, but not inevitable" and SN Brussels will talk to "all relevant manufacturers".
The airline says it has bettered its 2002 targets, with net losses around €3 million ($3.2 million) lower than the €38 million forecast. Next year, the airline expects to move into the black, forecasting a net profit of €5 million, despite fears of a difficult trading environment aggravated by high oil prices and a possible war in Iraq, says Davies. It carried 3.2 million passengers in its first year, and aims to increase passenger numbers by 37% in 2003.
SN Brussels is aiming to increase aircraft utilisation across the network by boosting daily sectors flown from six to eight. This will be achieved by operating lunchtime charter flights to the Mediterranean on behalf of tour operators. Describing the yield management techniques inherited from Sabena as "surprisingly flawed", Davies says that "this kind of asset maximisation should have been obvious to anyone, but was not".
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY HERMAN DE WULF IN BRUSSELS
Source: Flight International
