Brussels Airlines in 2024

[Homo Aeroportus]

Concerning the coming Winter season production, the fleet is expanding with 1 A330 and 1 A320 VS last winter.
.....

S24 destination extended in winter:
.....
-Nairobi (NBO), Kenya
.....

Much needed fleet expansion for sure.

Today SN277 ACC and SN357 FIH are cancelled.
Yesterday the "Fly-when-possible" SN515 was cancelled again.

Good news is that OO-SFF, in MAN since 14MAY, is coming back and will operate SN255 to OUA on 14JUN.
I sympathize with the check-in agents that must go for the "our apologies but your flight has been cancelled" and this thousands of times.
Let's hope that with Foxtrot back things will go a bit smoother now.

H.A.

OO-SFF is in BRU ? No more cancelled flights ?

Foxtrot was to depart MAN and 14:00 local. Postponed 4 times. Seems to start moving now, 19:43 local.
Planned to run SN255 OUA tomorrow 14JUN.
No guarantee but indeed a lower probability to have to cancel flights, if the flight schedules remain at the current level I guess.

H.A.

[nordikcam]

Much needed fleet expansion for sure.

Today SN277 ACC and SN357 FIH are cancelled.
Yesterday the "Fly-when-possible" SN515 was cancelled again.

Good news is that OO-SFF, in MAN since 14MAY, is coming back and will operate SN255 to OUA on 14JUN.
I sympathize with the check-in agents that must go for the "our apologies but your flight has been cancelled" and this thousands of times.
Let's hope that with Foxtrot back things will go a bit smoother now.

H.A.

OO-SFF is in BRU ? No more cancelled flights ?

Foxtrot was to depart MAN and 14:00 local. Postponed 4 times. Seems to start moving now, 19:43 local.
Planned to run SN255 OUA tomorrow 14JUN.
No guarantee but indeed a lower probability to have to cancel flights, if the flight schedules remain at the current level I guess.

H.A.

OK. Thx...good to know .

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

I saw it changed to Nairobi.

Today 9 intercontinental flights are planned: JFK + 8 to Africa.

Fingers crossed since no spare aircraft for the moment

BTW: the traffic figures for BRU for May are 'low' (+1,5%); the low number of flights from SN (intercontinental) influenced these quite a lot I guess. It is not only the cancelled flights but also simply the lower number of planned flights (because of the maintenance of so many planes in a short time)

Cheers
Danny

[Atlantis]

Hi all,



BTW: the traffic figures for BRU for May are 'low' (+1,5%); the low number of flights from SN (intercontinental) influenced these quite a lot I guess. It is not only the cancelled flights but also simply the lower number of planned flights (because of the maintenance of so many planes in a short time)

Cheers
Danny

Correct. The many cancellations in the long haul of SN caused that the overal figures of BRU are lower. If it was not the case we had almost reached the figures of 2019.
But cancellations are on each airport. I always compare with LOT in WAW. LOT cancels on a daily basis a lot of flights bcs lack of aircraft. They are selling much more tickets then available planes. The business booking offices are really angry at LOT bcs on a daily basis they have to rebook a lot of business pax who are not amused. There is even no refund.

They even parked, for a longer time now, 2 of their B787's on one of their taxiways bcs ongoing engine issues.

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,



BTW: the traffic figures for BRU for May are 'low' (+1,5%); the low number of flights from SN (intercontinental) influenced these quite a lot I guess. It is not only the cancelled flights but also simply the lower number of planned flights (because of the maintenance of so many planes in a short time)

Cheers
Danny

Correct. The many cancellations in the long haul of SN caused that the overal figures of BRU are lower. If it was not the case we had almost reached the figures of 2019.
But cancellations are on each airport. I always compare with LOT in WAW. LOT cancels on a daily basis a lot of flights bcs lack of aircraft. They are selling much more tickets then available planes. The business booking offices are really angry at LOT bcs on a daily basis they have to rebook a lot of business pax who are not amused. There is even no refund.

They even parked, for a longer time now, 2 of their B787's on one of their taxiways bcs ongoing engine issues.

Hi Atlantis,

It is not only cancelling flights. They also planned less flights (as compared to last year), obviously, because they knew they would have less planes available (maintenance), so they also sold less tickets. So two different things for me ...

Cheers,
Danny

[Atlantis]

Hi all,



BTW: the traffic figures for BRU for May are 'low' (+1,5%); the low number of flights from SN (intercontinental) influenced these quite a lot I guess. It is not only the cancelled flights but also simply the lower number of planned flights (because of the maintenance of so many planes in a short time)

Cheers
Danny

Correct. The many cancellations in the long haul of SN caused that the overal figures of BRU are lower. If it was not the case we had almost reached the figures of 2019.
But cancellations are on each airport. I always compare with LOT in WAW. LOT cancels on a daily basis a lot of flights bcs lack of aircraft. They are selling much more tickets then available planes. The business booking offices are really angry at LOT bcs on a daily basis they have to rebook a lot of business pax who are not amused. There is even no refund.

They even parked, for a longer time now, 2 of their B787's on one of their taxiways bcs ongoing engine issues.

Hi Atlantis,

It is not only cancelling flights. They also planned less flights (as compared to last year), obviously, because they knew they would have less planes available (maintenance), so they also sold less tickets. So two different things for me ...

Cheers,
Danny

Sure. And this is reflected in the huge drop of transfer pax on Intra-Europe flights. And this is not good at all

[fcw]

Correct. The many cancellations in the long haul of SN caused that the overal figures of BRU are lower. If it was not the case we had almost reached the figures of 2019.

I don’t buy this cancellation excuse!
Many passengers of cancelled flights travel a day earlier or later, with another airline or are rerouted buy the still fly out of Brussels. Of course the number of connecting passengers will decrease, but overall I think you’re overestimating the impact.

[Atlantis]

Correct. The many cancellations in the long haul of SN caused that the overal figures of BRU are lower. If it was not the case we had almost reached the figures of 2019.

I don’t buy this cancellation excuse!
Many passengers of cancelled flights travel a day earlier or later, with another airline or are rerouted buy the still fly out of Brussels. Of course the number of connecting passengers will decrease, but overall I think you’re overestimating the impact.

Not at all. The same when there are strikes, those pax are also rebooked but still you see a big drop in pax figures.
In the case of SN where almost daily 1 or 2 long haul flights were cancelled, it has an impact and this together with other airlines who has to cancel flights bcs of shortage of crew and planes

[rwandan-flyer]

You have reached almost the pre covid traffic levels but less capacities in term of fleet and staff. Airlines can't deal with this and SN is not the only airline to cancel flights.

Some strikes are looming at American Airlines (https://www.star-telegram.com/news/busi ... 82084.html), Alaska Airlines (https://viewfromthewing.com/flight-atte ... to-strike/), EasyJet (https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/news/ea ... s-32793450).

[TimTam]

I have great difficulty in following everybody"s arguments. As I already said, I am passionate about aviation, but don't know all the ins ans outs.
However, as regards flight cancellations, I think it would be interesting to know in terms of percentage how many flights are cancelled weekly by AF, KL, BA, IB, LH (airline) and SN for instance. Are 2 %, 5 %, 10 % of these airlines flights cancelled weekly ?

[oldblueeyes]

If you are passionate, than try to build a basic sound knowledge.

So what findings do you expect by comparing % from company A vs company B? Just your unreflected "Management is bad" thinking?

Try to use your brain first and realize how many planned and unplanned variables would influece those numbers:

- situation of slots : from must fly to east to pause
- predictible and unpredictible shortages : from airport ground staff problems up to spontaneous strikes
- fleet predictibility : start of tickets selling time point eg seasonal plan vs planned deliveries vs real time deliveries
- commercial adjustments in between if bookings lead to better alternatives and how various type of players are executing this operationally

and so on and so on.

And if you get to a number and don't look at it dumb and dumber ( sorry for the spontaneous rhyme) you need to benchmark it to the strategy of that airline:
- one may plan by squeezing capacity to the max so they would assume from the beginning to have certain failure from the ideal scenario - their only questionmay be how much in minus they are landing
- another player may plan very conservative and having a high execution rate vs an unambitioned target - they would have "great" execution, but missing opportunities

[convair]

If you are passionate, than try to build a basic sound knowledge.

So what findings do you expect by comparing % from company A vs company B? Just your unreflected "Management is bad" thinking?

Try to use your brain first and realize how many planned and unplanned variables would influece those numbers:

- situation of slots : from must fly to east to pause
- predictible and unpredictible shortages : from airport ground staff problems up to spontaneous strikes
- fleet predictibility : start of tickets selling time point eg seasonal plan vs planned deliveries vs real time deliveries
- commercial adjustments in between if bookings lead to better alternatives and how various type of players are executing this operationally

and so on and so on.

And if you get to a number and don't look at it dumb and dumber ( sorry for the spontaneous rhyme) you need to benchmark it to the strategy of that airline:
- one may plan by squeezing capacity to the max so they would assume from the beginning to have certain failure from the ideal scenario - their only questionmay be how much in minus they are landing
- another player may plan very conservative and having a high execution rate vs an unambitioned target - they would have "great" execution, but missing opportunities

And, to be fair, one also has to mention the positive news: all 9 l/h planes operated their flights normally yesterday. A first in a long time.

Apparently, they intend to repeat it today; no cancellation announced...yet.

[TimTam]

If you are passionate, than try to build a basic sound knowledge.

So what findings do you expect by comparing % from company A vs company B? Just your unreflected "Management is bad" thinking?

Try to use your brain first and realize how many planned and unplanned variables would influece those numbers:

- situation of slots : from must fly to east to pause
- predictible and unpredictible shortages : from airport ground staff problems up to spontaneous strikes
- fleet predictibility : start of tickets selling time point eg seasonal plan vs planned deliveries vs real time deliveries
- commercial adjustments in between if bookings lead to better alternatives and how various type of players are executing this operationally

and so on and so on.

And if you get to a number and don't look at it dumb and dumber ( sorry for the spontaneous rhyme) you need to benchmark it to the strategy of that airline:
- one may plan by squeezing capacity to the max so they would assume from the beginning to have certain failure from the ideal scenario - their only questionmay be how much in minus they are landing
- another player may plan very conservative and having a high execution rate vs an unambitioned target - they would have "great" execution, but missing opportunities

Since you started to insult me (which is not the first time), I did not read the rest of your long post. Have a nice week-end.

[lumumba]

If you are passionate, than try to build a basic sound knowledge.

So what findings do you expect by comparing % from company A vs company B? Just your unreflected "Management is bad" thinking?

Try to use your brain first and realize how many planned and unplanned variables would influece those numbers:

- situation of slots : from must fly to east to pause
- predictible and unpredictible shortages : from airport ground staff problems up to spontaneous strikes
- fleet predictibility : start of tickets selling time point eg seasonal plan vs planned deliveries vs real time deliveries
- commercial adjustments in between if bookings lead to better alternatives and how various type of players are executing this operationally

and so on and so on.

And if you get to a number and don't look at it dumb and dumber ( sorry for the spontaneous rhyme) you need to benchmark it to the strategy of that airline:
- one may plan by squeezing capacity to the max so they would assume from the beginning to have certain failure from the ideal scenario - their only questionmay be how much in minus they are landing
- another player may plan very conservative and having a high execution rate vs an unambitioned target - they would have "great" execution, but missing opportunities

Since you started to insult me (which is not the first time), I did not read the rest of your long post. Have a nice week-end.

We have to be honest, cancellations have always been the weak point of Brussels Airlines.

[longwings]

I have great difficulty in following everybody"s arguments. As I already said, I am passionate about aviation, but don't know all the ins ans outs.
However, as regards flight cancellations, I think it would be interesting to know in terms of percentage how many flights are cancelled weekly by AF, KL, BA, IB, LH (airline) and SN for instance. Are 2 %, 5 %, 10 % of these airlines flights cancelled weekly ?

You can google a lot of that information yourself, i.e. inform yourself as others have suggested already.
Here's a data point for you. In 2023, Brussels Airlines did not crack the top 10 of EU airlines with most cancelled or delayed flights. Lufthansa and British Airways did.

Also no one serious does weekly comparisons. Too many factors outside airlines' control can skew the data on any one week, e.g. air traffic controllers closing an airport in Paris for three days, or two massive storms back-to-back closing American Airlines' biggest hub for two days. Annual comparisons smooth out these freak occurrences. Frequent fliers do seasonal comparisons to know which airports to avoid for connecting flights when.

[Ge203]

If you are passionate, than try to build a basic sound knowledge.

So what findings do you expect by comparing % from company A vs company B? Just your unreflected "Management is bad" thinking?

Try to use your brain first and realize how many planned and unplanned variables would influece those numbers:

- situation of slots : from must fly to east to pause
- predictible and unpredictible shortages : from airport ground staff problems up to spontaneous strikes
- fleet predictibility : start of tickets selling time point eg seasonal plan vs planned deliveries vs real time deliveries
- commercial adjustments in between if bookings lead to better alternatives and how various type of players are executing this operationally

and so on and so on.

And if you get to a number and don't look at it dumb and dumber ( sorry for the spontaneous rhyme) you need to benchmark it to the strategy of that airline:
- one may plan by squeezing capacity to the max so they would assume from the beginning to have certain failure from the ideal scenario - their only questionmay be how much in minus they are landing
- another player may plan very conservative and having a high execution rate vs an unambitioned target - they would have "great" execution, but missing opportunities

Since you started to insult me (which is not the first time), I did not read the rest of your long post. Have a nice week-end.

We have to be honest, cancellations have always been the weak point of Brussels Airlines.

Brussels Airlines is actually the best performing airline (ie : regularity, successful connections, luggage delivery,…) among the LHG, and by far.

Cancellation is only an extended delay, missing a connecting flight because of delayed arrival in BRU would essentially lead to the same result : delayed arrival at final destination, it being hours or days. And SN is doing good in that matter.

[lumumba]

I have great difficulty in following everybody"s arguments. As I already said, I am passionate about aviation, but don't know all the ins ans outs.
However, as regards flight cancellations, I think it would be interesting to know in terms of percentage how many flights are cancelled weekly by AF, KL, BA, IB, LH (airline) and SN for instance. Are 2 %, 5 %, 10 % of these airlines flights cancelled weekly ?

You can google a lot of that information yourself, i.e. inform yourself as others have suggested already.
Here's a data point for you. In 2023, Brussels Airlines did not crack the top 10 of EU airlines with most cancelled or delayed flights. Lufthansa and British Airways did.

Also no one serious does weekly comparisons. Too many factors outside airlines' control can skew the data on any one week, e.g. air traffic controllers closing an airport in Paris for three days, or two massive storms back-to-back closing American Airlines' biggest hub for two days. Annual comparisons smooth out these freak occurrences. Frequent fliers do seasonal comparisons to know which airports to avoid for connecting flights when.

Are this numbers in % or total?
Because frankly speaking just look to the BRU-JFK flights I have difficulties to believe it's the same from Frankfurt or Munich?!
Obviously you cannot count flights canceled due to strikes that's not the point here.
I don't know about short flights...but for long haul the way I deal with it it's not so good.

[oldblueeyes]

The only thing that matters is the robustness of the network and not a single sector - unless the own thinking is not limited to " i booked once Ryanair and they cancelled my flight".

On TATL likely there are no more than 50-60 Pax flying just that flight and messing the benefit of a direct flight if they are rerouted.

All the rest In a working JV with a respectable network simply it's close to neutral. Flying from MidWest to somewhere in Europe it's the job to be done and if the European stop is BRU doesn't matter - for 99% of these Pax it was likely the price attractive proposal offered by the booking Software.

[rwandan-flyer]

About delays and cancelations about Brussels Airlines and Brussels Airport i put several links 10 days ago : viewtopic.php?p=433362&hilit=brussels+a ... ys#p433362

On Airliners Net A Gahnian aviation fan is wondering why AF is reducing flights to Accra to 3 flights a week this summer, while Brussels Airline is operating 6 flights a week with a limited North American network ?

The grass is not (always) greener elsewhere

Is AF really down to 3 weekly ACC-CDG during summer season? At this point, what's the point? If SN can make BRU work with limited North America connectivity, this is really surprising. Wonder where they are sending the planes they used to send to Mali, Burkina and Niger now that those are offline. Believe they were A330 in medium haul config. Ottawa has long seen an upgrade from that equipment to 777 / 787.

Accra is now served with the B777s iso the A330. ACC was used to be served via Ouagadougou.

Air France make several modifications with the A330 ops, during the covid till today. F-GZCD (https://fr.flightaware.com/live/flight/FGZCD) & F-GZCO (https://fr.flightaware.com/live/flight/FGZCO) are currently at Beja (Portugal) since many weeks.

North America & South America

The have ended A330 ops to USA. Dallas and Chicago were the last US cities to be served by the A330. Quebec and Ottawa were quickly upgraded from A330 to B787-9

Fortaleza is now served with the A350 iso the A330

Tel Aviv

Before the covid, TLV was served only with the A320s. During the covid AF added the A330 and also the B777-200ER and sometimes the B777-300ER (2 times a day). Then the A350. Before the 7 October Hamas attack which lead to the war between Israel and Hamas, AF planned to serve TLV only with the B777-200ER. Now they operate a daily service with A350

Kinshasa

FIH was served by the A330 before the covid before to be upgrade to the B777-300ER and now the A350.

Cayenne (French Overseas Dept)

CAY was served from Paris Orly using the B777-200ER. Since they resumed flights from CDG during the covid, they have started to use the A330 but sometimes with the B777-200ER. Now flights are operated mainly with the A330 but sometimes with A350 and B777-200ER, since they ended flights to Paris Orly few months ago.

Bengaluru

AF operates daily service with the A330-200. Delhi and Mumbai are sometimes served with the A330 in the winter.

Beirut

Few years ago, Air France used to send the B777-300ER, now flights are operated with the A330-200

Pointe Noire / Luanda

Both destinations were served without stop, when AF decided to start CDG-Luanda-Pointe Noire -Luanda last year, they started to use the A330 (very few flights are operated with the B777-200ER).

Libreville


In 2023, Libreville was served by the A350, but flights are now operated with the A330.

Douala / Yaounde / Bangui

Both cities are now served daily this summer with the A330-200. Bangui is now served 2 times a week iso 1 times via Yaounde using an A330 since the start of the Central African Republic Civil War in 2012.

Now Cotonou (B787-9), Lagos (A350), Conakry (B787-9), Nouakchott (B787-9) are less served by the A330.

[longwings]

Are this numbers in % or total?
Because frankly speaking just look to the BRU-JFK flights I have difficulties to believe it's the same from Frankfurt or Munich?!

It''s a percentage. It is also a combination of canceled and delayed flights. But the statistics are not invalidated just because they do not fit your preconceived notion. Again, a lot of that information is public. Rather than complain about cancellations that don't even affect you, then complain some more when presented with information contradicting your opinion, maybe do your research. A side-by-side comparison of Brussels with some of its competitors would be a very constructive post. And who knows, maybe Brussels is doing far worse than Lufty in 2024.... Or maybe you'll have to get off that horse...