Brussels Airlines' fleet renewal

[Miqvell]

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

They said the next growth should happen in 2026 due to aircraft shortage.

[oldblueeyes]

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

As these routes would be likely operated by the TATL partners, they can only be announced when they would be ready.

But it won't be more than some connection zo their Hubs.

[lumumba]

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

As these routes would be likely operated by the TATL partners, they can only be announced when they would be ready.

But it won't be more than some connection zo their Hubs.

Ok but it's long haul,this is important some means a lot already.
Brussels is a small hub and a niche market to Africa more than 10 flights to this continent we will never have so 2 or 3 long haul is sufficient.

[Ced]

Air Canada has 3 hubs and united has 7 continental hubs (excl. Guam). That could be quite a bit of TATL traffic. A flight to Florida (Orlando?) would be quite sweet but probably not a priority...

[longwings]

In detail: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/luft ... ion-plans/

By continuation of the second daily EWR-BRU, they mean resumption for Summer 25, I suppose, not year-round? I don't believe it is n the schedule for the winter.

In the link above it says 3 A330’s in 2025 but the SN press release says in the coming years. To have 13 A330s by end of next year seems optimistic to me unless I’m wrong.

I read it as three A330s coming, with the first of three in 2025. I agree with your assessment it would be challenging for Brussels to add three A330s to the fleet in 18 months.

Air Canada has 3 hubs and united has 7 continental hubs (excl. Guam). That could be quite a bit of TATL traffic. A flight to Florida (Orlando?) would be quite sweet but probably not a priority...

IAH is on the list but it requires two aircraft to operate daily unless in a W pattern with an existing destination.
Florida is not on the horizon. No hub there for connecting traffic.
MCO is a base for 737 pilots only, not a hub.

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

They said the next growth should happen in 2026 due to aircraft shortage.

If the strike doesn't slow down deliveries extensively. The last one lasted eight weeks but impact was measured in months as you can't restart an aircraft assembly line overnight.

[lumumba]

In detail: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/luft ... ion-plans/

By continuation of the second daily EWR-BRU, they mean resumption for Summer 25, I suppose, not year-round? I don't believe it is n the schedule for the winter.

In the link above it says 3 A330’s in 2025 but the SN press release says in the coming years. To have 13 A330s by end of next year seems optimistic to me unless I’m wrong.

I read it as three A330s coming, with the first of three in 2025. I agree with your assessment it would be challenging for Brussels to add three A330s to the fleet in 18 months.

Air Canada has 3 hubs and united has 7 continental hubs (excl. Guam). That could be quite a bit of TATL traffic. A flight to Florida (Orlando?) would be quite sweet but probably not a priority...

IAH is on the list but it requires two aircraft to operate daily unless in a W pattern with an existing destination.
Florida is not on the horizon. No hub there for connecting traffic.
MCO is a base for 737 pilots only, not a hub.

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

They said the next growth should happen in 2026 due to aircraft shortage.

If the strike doesn't slow down deliveries extensively. The last one lasted eight weeks but impact was measured in months as you can't restart an aircraft assembly line overnight.

I understood the second flight to Newark is year around know

[DannyVDB]

I am curious how they will use the A220-300 planes during summer. It is clearly not to open up secondary destinations (maybe Billund yes, but others?)

For those you need smaller planes (in fact they are indeed similar to the A319). I wonder why no agreement with CityJet, LH has 7 of those (CRJ-900 and CRJ-1000).

So my assumption is that the additional planes are really to have more frequent flights to 'holiday' destinations, since these are still 'booming'.- Probably also more to Scandinavia since traffic is also raising there (I know a lot of people going on holidays now in Sweden, Denmark, Norway).

Cheers,
Danny

[DannyVDB]

Regarding the potential additional West-African destinations, there are not many options: starting again Bamako (AF left as well, so why would SN go there since very unstable), Niamey (but also not very stable), and I end-up again with Lagos and Port Harcourt. Maybe for Lagos they could take over from LH so they can use their planes elsewhere?

In the article, only West-Africa is mentioned, not Central, Eastern or Southern Africa.

Just curious about your thoughts ...

Danny

[koninckske]

I have been based in Lagos for six years. From my experience a lot of passengers and cargo, but low yield due to strong competition. And most passengers connect to the UK and US when arriving in Europe. On top of that it is very hard to get money out of Nigeria due to a shortage of USD. Probably easy to fill the plane, but hard to make money.

[nordikcam]

Regarding the potential additional West-African destinations, there are not many options: starting again Bamako (AF left as well, so why would SN go there since very unstable), Niamey (but also not very stable), and I end-up again with Lagos and Port Harcourt. Maybe for Lagos they could take over from LH so they can use their planes elsewhere?

In the article, only West-Africa is mentioned, not Central, Eastern or Southern Africa.

Just curious about your thoughts ...

Danny

Nigeria is not easy for making money and is in hands of LH right now ! Maybe N'Djamena where AF is playing. In the old SN destinations, there was Dar-es-Salaam and I think Mombasa was in the cards at one moment but it is not in sub-Saharan Africa...Also Libreville and Brazaville were SN stopovers, unless I am mistaken !But it's not in sub-Saharan Africa...Pointe Noire ?

[brabel]

Dar Es Salam, Mombasa, Libreville and Brazzaville are all situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You meant West-Africa, I suppose?

[nordikcam]

Dar Es Salam, Mombasa, Libreville and Brazzaville are all situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You meant West-Africa, I suppose?

Obviously those cities are in the South of Sahara...but the countries of Sub SAHARA are : Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambie, Ghana, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritanie, Niger, Nigeria, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo. So, Dar Es Salam ( Tanzania ), Mombasa (Kenya ), Libreville (Gabon), and Brazaville (Congo) are not.

[DannyVDB]

Regarding the potential additional West-African destinations, there are not many options: starting again Bamako (AF left as well, so why would SN go there since very unstable), Niamey (but also not very stable), and I end-up again with Lagos and Port Harcourt. Maybe for Lagos they could take over from LH so they can use their planes elsewhere?

In the article, only West-Africa is mentioned, not Central, Eastern or Southern Africa.

Just curious about your thoughts ...

Danny

Nigeria is not easy for making money and is in hands of LH right now ! Maybe N'Djamena where AF is playing. In the old SN destinations, there was Dar-es-Salaam and I think Mombasa was in the cards at one moment but it is not in sub-Saharan Africa...Also Libreville and Brazaville were SN stopovers, unless I am mistaken !But it's not in sub-Saharan Africa...Pointe Noire ?

Yes, but the latter are not West-Africa. I see those other destinations as potential destinations, but if I understood the report from the press-conference well, they only spoke about West-Africa. We could eventually consider N'Djamena as West-Africa (I am geographer

I see Lagos as an option: 1) not sure UA and other US airlines are so successful to fill their planes to that destination and 2) I see eventually a shift of this flight to SN as happened with Accra (from LX > SN). The rumours on a Houston - BRU route by UA would support this. It's just a question of route planning (not individual routes but as a JV!

Cheers,
Danny

[DannyVDB]

Dar Es Salam, Mombasa, Libreville and Brazzaville are all situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You meant West-Africa, I suppose?

Obviously those cities are in the South of Sahara...but the countries of Sub SAHARA are : Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambie, Ghana, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritanie, Niger, Nigeria, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo. So, Dar Es Salam ( Tanzania ), Mombasa (Kenya ), Libreville (Gabon), and Brazaville (Congo) are not.

I will not start a geographical discussion / definition here since I am sure SN/LH do not really care about precise definitions either (I am a geospatial expert so can make calculations if needed )

Cheers,
Danny

PS: looking forward to my 7th trip to Saint Lucia next week (via JFK with SN in Business, staying two nights there and then with JetBlue to Saint Lucia)

[nordikcam]

Dar Es Salam, Mombasa, Libreville and Brazzaville are all situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You meant West-Africa, I suppose?

Obviously those cities are in the South of Sahara...but the countries of Sub SAHARA are : Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambie, Ghana, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritanie, Niger, Nigeria, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo. So, Dar Es Salam ( Tanzania ), Mombasa (Kenya ), Libreville (Gabon), and Brazaville (Congo) are not.

I will not start a geographical discussion / definition here since I am sure SN/LH do not really care about precise definitions either (I am a geospatial expert so can make calculations if needed )

Cheers,
Danny

PS: looking forward to my 7th trip to Saint Lucia next week (via JFK with SN in Business, staying two nights there and then with JetBlue to Saint Lucia)

I'm not a geographer, that's a fact! I nevertheless think that West Africa includes the countries that I mentioned without including Chad and N'Djamena but including Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. While sub-Saharan Africa obviously does not include the 3 countries of North Africa any more than Chad I think! That said, I think I'm playing on words and I'm not sure that the SN staff is in sharp geographical nuances...

[jan_olieslagers]

"sub-saharan" is a recent addition to the international vocabulary. It is a eufemism for "black Africa" since this term is considered politically incorrect by some.

[brabel]

Dar Es Salam, Mombasa, Libreville and Brazzaville are all situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You meant West-Africa, I suppose?

Obviously those cities are in the South of Sahara...but the countries of Sub SAHARA are : Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambie, Ghana, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritanie, Niger, Nigeria, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo. So, Dar Es Salam ( Tanzania ), Mombasa (Kenya ), Libreville (Gabon), and Brazaville (Congo) are not.

They are.
Sub-Saharan Africa is are more or less all African countries except for the northern 5 (+ Western Sahara and sometimes Sudan (UN classification)).

[EBKT]

A bit disappointed nothing is mentioned since March on new routes to the US with star Alliance partners... No details on this US Africa hub seem to have leaked...

Interesting article. Nothing really new. Growth to expect from 2026 onwards (especially) from UA.

Also timing of 2nd daily Newarks will be rescheduled more or less same time as the other flight. SN to keep (seasonal) IAD and JFK.

https://simpleflying.com/exclusive-brus ... 1726320974

[nordikcam]

D-AIKM flew FRA DUS today before transfer to SN

[DannyVDB]

Are you sure it will not return to LH after maintenance and operate for them until the summer season? I read somewhere that it will become operational for SN in the course of (mid-) 2025 only, just like the previous one (that was early June).

D