SNBA lost 30m EUR in Q1

[737lover]

Contrary to earlier statements SN Brussels Airlines, the successor of the defunct Belgian flag carrier Sabena, has made a loss of 30 million EUR in the first three months of 2003. The loss in this year's first quarter was barely noticeable in the published accounts with the National Bank of Belgium. Earlier press statements only talked about a loss between 10 and 15 million EUR.
And still, the CEO keeps claiming that SNBA will post a profit for the whole of 2003.
Imo, these guys are suffering from the same illness as the Sabena management, i.e. not wanting to admit that their business plan is crap.
In 2002 SNBA made an operational loss of more than EUR 100m.
What does SNBA think? That we are stupid or what? Maybe our Belgian politicians (who helped SNBA being started up) are too blind to see what is really happening.

[spokespersonSN]

I have to deny the info in this topic.

SN Brussels Airlines has never given information about its quarter results, neither we have published a forecast or given information to the National Bank. Sorry to say, but this is a false rumour.

Spokesperson SN

[737lover]

Really?? Is the information within SNBA :mad: ?

SN spokesperson (the one from Sabena? or SN Brussels Airlines?) should talk to Michel Meyfroid and Rob Kuijpers, both administrators ("bestuurders") of SNBA.

Have a look on page 9 of the administration report ("beheersverslag"). Both gentlemen have put their signature under that document.

Or ask for a copy at the National Bank if they dont want to give one to SNspokesperson. It costs less than 10 Euros :D I hope the SNBA bosses don't keep any other embarrasing secrets hidden...

SN spokesperson, I hope things are going as good as you say... but many people have serious doubts... especially when people state that facts are false rumours....:*

check out www.nbb.be how to obtain the documents.

[spokespersonSN]

My comments were on the frist quarter results which i still have to deny.

The year result and year 2002 report you mention, you can even find on the sn website for free. So, nothing to hide at all. I regret your false allegations.

That an airline makes operational losses in its start-up year is rather logic I think and here I end the discussion.

[737lover]

Here the proof of what you call false allegations:

"Het dient ten slotte opgemerkt dat de voorlopige resultaten voor het eerste trimester 2003 een gecumuleerd verlies ten belope van 30 mio EUR vertonen. Deze situatie is te wijten aan het feit dat het aantal passagiers op de Europese lijnen en de yield op het Afrikaanse netwerk lager is dan voorzien."
quote unquote

Translated it reads: Finally, it has to be brought to the attention that the preliminary results for the first quarter of 2003 show a cumulated loss of 30 million EUR. This situation is caused by the number of passengers on European routes and the yield on the African network are lower than foreseen.

Quite worrying :confused:

I didn't question the fact that a carrier might make some loss during the first year of operation. But you will understand that issuing conflicting messages of such importance by different senior officials like yourself and some administrators can raise people's eyebrowes.

Ending the discussion like SpokespersonSN does is an easy way out, but does not explain why he is stating something different than what is told in the annual report.

[737lover]

Spokesperson SN is right on one thing. The annual report is indeed posted on the SN website, but.... the administration report (beheersverslag) is not included on their site.
Those who want to receive a pdf version of the official and complete annual accounts of SN can contact me [email protected]

I hate it when people try to make fools of others... :*

Thanks a lot SpokesmanSN to tell us just half of the truth... but maybe that is Sabena tradition?

[Belgian Beauty]

737 lover,


Why so bitter????????? I hope your not a bitter and twisted former Sabena employee!

You seem to have your on little private crusade going against SNBA. And that makes me question Why???
Perhaps you can enlighten us all a bit further instead of ranting about us being treated like idiots.

[737lover]

No, I am not a former Sabena employee, but a Belgian taxpayer who has contributed a lot to the past and present "national airline" via tax payments. :{

The worse of all is that SpokesmanSN simply said that the information in an official document issued by his own company is not correct and that it is a false rumour.

I regret that in Belgium we no longer have a big airline. VG Airlines has disappeared, Sobelair is in serious financial trouble and BUA was a deadborn child. There are only Thomas Cook Airlines and VLM left. Peanuts...

I just hope for the sake of those who work in SNBA (of which two of my friends, one is a first officer, the other one works at a desk) we won't have to face any social disasters. That is my sincerest hope.

There are far too many Belgian pilots and cabin crew without a job or working far away from home. All because of a management not wanting to face reality and pretending that all is going well.