Brussels Airlines West Africa service changes

[sdbelgium]

brussels airlines S11 West Africa service changes

brussels airlines from 27MAR11 is adjusting West Africa service which sees routing and frequency changes.

Details as of 04MAR11 as follows (including map of route network changes compared to Summer 2010):

• Abidjan Reduce from 6 weekly in S10 to 2 weekly in S11
• Accra Service remains 4 weekly
  Banjul Increase from 3 to 4 weekly
• Conakry Service remains 2 weekly, but operating via Banjul in each direction, replacing triangle service with Freetown
• Cotonou Service remains 2 weekly, but operating via Ouagadougou in each direction, replacing triangle service with Abidjan
• Dakar Service Reduce from Daily to 5 weekly. Also current service is operated by Air Italy’s Boeing 767-300 aircraft, but will switch back to A330-300
• Freetown Service remains 2 weekly, with 1 stop via Banjul in each direction, instead of triangle service
• Lome Service remains 2 weekly, but will switch from 1-stop via Ouagadougou to NONSTOP. Service extends to Accra
• Monrovia Service reduce from 4 to 3 weekly. Service operates via Banjul as technical stop on inbound flight (replace current 4 weekly triangle service with Abidjan)
• Ouagadougou Service remains 2 weekly. Route extends to Cotonou instead of Lome

http://airlineroute.net/2011/03/04/sn-wafrica-s11/

[RoMax]

brussels airlines S11 West Africa service changes

brussels airlines from 27MAR11 is adjusting West Africa service which sees routing and frequency changes.

This shows haw unpredictable the African market is. In 2010 the route to Abidjan (and Dakar) seemed so promissing and now ABJ falls dawn from 6 weekly to only 2 weekly and DKR from daily to 5 weekly. And it's normal that they have to reorganize most of the West-African network.
Altough I'm suprised about Monrovia, wasn't there another solution to keep it 4 weekly or isn't there enough demand for the route anymore (isn't Monrovia one of AF's new destinations? Has that something to do with it or not?)

[Phatius]

I think this reshuffle of the West-African operations is a logic consequence of some political disruptions affecting the aviation market.

The Abidjan business market collapsed due to the political issues between Mr Ouatara en Mr Gbagbo, and the economical impact is huge!! If you look at the Ivory coast export numbers, you'll understand how big the impact really is.

The Dakar operations were disrupted due to the strange rules imposed by the son of the Senegalese President Mr Wade to block the airline to operate triangle flights. The diplomatic pressure apparently didn't clear up the skies, so SN had to look for a long term solution. 5 weekly doesn't seem too bad, although I think a Saturday rotation is a must on this route (for the tour operators and tourism agencies)

BJL is partly taking over the rotation center of DKR, and DKR still keeps a vast amount of weekly seats (but indeed unfortunately with less frequencies).

The ROB operations is most surprising, as the 3 rotations do mean a lot of extra seats on this route. (BJL is only a technical stop). BTW What is the reason for the technical stop? Are there issues with safety levels for the crews, or issues with full turn around capabilities in ROB (catering, ...)?

Hope this transistion works out fine.

Best regards,

Phatius

[tolipanebas]

Luckily there is some serious political unrest in ABJ at present, which allows SN to massively cut frequencies on their route to Ivory Coast without too much of a problem, a decision which in turn frees sufficient capacity to maintain frequencies (with one exception) on all other routes all with just 5 planes....

Still, this schedule is far from ideal because there are going to be less non-stop flights than before, not to mention the fact DKR isn't served daily any longer (allthough it looks like the total weekly capacity to DKR is going to increase) but okay, it's all that can be done right now, given the lack of a diplomatic solution.

Our government was going to take care of it the soft way, right?

Well, let's see if Senegal Airlines will indeed soon ask for traffic rights to BRU as they planned (e.g. on the 2 days SN doesn't operate to DKR any longer): now, THAT should be 'interesting'!

[tolipanebas]

I'm suprised about Monrovia, wasn't there another solution to keep it 4 weekly or isn't there enough demand for the route anymore (isn't Monrovia one of AF's new destinations? Has that something to do with it or not?)

Mind you, less frequencies, but probably more seats, given the flight is passing through BJL simply to make a tech stop (crew change)!

[RoMax]

Mind you, less frequencies, but probably more seats, given the flight is passing through BJL simply to make a tech stop (crew change)!

Yes indeed, didn't noticed BJL is just a tech stop.

[Darjeeling]

Logical move, market has collapsed in ABJ for everyone, even AF, EK, SA... It was a perfect occasion to reshuffle the system in W.Africa given DKR situation.

[tolipanebas]

The Dutch foreign office is now calling upon all Dutchmen in Abidjan to leave asap due to the deteriorating safety condition in the the Ivory Coast: I wonder if there will still be a need for 2 weekly flights to ABJ by April?

The Ivorian economy has basically come to a complete standstill and the country is at the brink of a civil war: nice way to run your country into the ground, Mr Gbagbo!

[Darjeeling]

...And if you want my opinion Senegal will be the first country of the Black Africa to have a kind of Jasmine revolution. Maybe not in 2011 but for sure in 2012 as I'm sure the population won't let Wade through again.