Brussels Airlines' fleet renewal

[Vic Diesel]

This week I was for the first time on one of the leased A222-300 of Air Baltic ... Nice experience, very professional crew, announcements (recorded) also in French and Dutch (véry Dutch ).

Cheers,
Danny

Indeed, my experience with BT wetlease flights is always a pleasant one. My only "complaint": when waking up from a short inflight nap and noticing you are sitting in an A223 of BT, you might be confused for a moment, not knowing whether you are having an SN, OS, LH or LX flight...

[IronBirds@Brussels]

It seems OO-SFC left for Chateauroux (this morning), while OO-SFQ is still in Woensdrecht, and OO-SFH is in maintenance in BRU (not sure what that means), and a fourth one (OO-SFE) had a window broken due to a hail storm ...
So many birds in non-active mode ... Hope they can repair/solve/... things soon .
D

The lack of aircraft, with 30% of the long-haul fleet grounded, is not good for the Q2 results, especially combined with the strikes.
The poor Q1 results were also partly due to unexpected maintenance.
According to the Lufthansa Group, good results lead to new aircraft.
And long-haul remains the most profitable segment for Brussels Airlines.
2025 has to be better than 2024. We're not off to a great start.

[Atlantis]

It seems OO-SFC left for Chateauroux (this morning), while OO-SFQ is still in Woensdrecht, and OO-SFH is in maintenance in BRU (not sure what that means), and a fourth one (OO-SFE) had a window broken due to a hail storm ...
So many birds in non-active mode ... Hope they can repair/solve/... things soon .
D

The lack of aircraft, with 30% of the long-haul fleet grounded, is not good for the Q2 results, especially combined with the strikes.
The poor Q1 results were also partly due to unexpected maintenance.
According to the Lufthansa Group, good results lead to new aircraft.
And long-haul remains the most profitable segment for Brussels Airlines.
2025 has to be better than 2024. We're not off to a great start.

It's not 30% bcs nr 11 is not in service, it will join the fleet soon. And normally one of the off planes, short break at BRU, should fly again tomorrow

[crew1990]

It seems OO-SFC left for Chateauroux (this morning), while OO-SFQ is still in Woensdrecht, and OO-SFH is in maintenance in BRU (not sure what that means), and a fourth one (OO-SFE) had a window broken due to a hail storm ...
So many birds in non-active mode ... Hope they can repair/solve/... things soon .
D

The lack of aircraft, with 30% of the long-haul fleet grounded, is not good for the Q2 results, especially combined with the strikes.
The poor Q1 results were also partly due to unexpected maintenance.
According to the Lufthansa Group, good results lead to new aircraft.
And long-haul remains the most profitable segment for Brussels Airlines.
2025 has to be better than 2024. We're not off to a great start.

The 11th a330 start operation from june, the aircraft at the paintshop was planed not to fly at this moment si your statistic are not correct.

Concerning the "bad Q1 result" they are better than the Q1 of 2024 wich was a record year. It could have been even better without the unexpected maintenance indeed, but 2025 is far away from a bad start.

[Homo Aeroportus]

OO-SFJ is not in service for almost 2 weeks.
Must be some serious tech.

H.A.

[nordikcam]

SFC in CHR, SFE in EBB, SFH in maintenance, SFJ with technical problèmes, SFQ in ,WOE...if we are fare away from a bad start...we are, I guess, far away from a terrific good start. Hélas...

[Delta Sierra]

OO-SFJ is not in service for almost 2 weeks.
Must be some serious tech.

H.A.

OO-SFE is meanwhile back in operations
OO-SFJ was engine replacement.
OO-SFD was damaged by the ground handling in FNA and will be AOG for some weeks.
OO-SFC in CHR till the 24th of May
OO-SFQ in WOE till the 19the of May

OO-SNL hit by beltloader in BRU and AOG till the end of May.

[oldblueeyes]

It seems OO-SFC left for Chateauroux (this morning), while OO-SFQ is still in Woensdrecht, and OO-SFH is in maintenance in BRU (not sure what that means), and a fourth one (OO-SFE) had a window broken due to a hail storm ...
So many birds in non-active mode ... Hope they can repair/solve/... things soon .
D

The lack of aircraft, with 30% of the long-haul fleet grounded, is not good for the Q2 results, especially combined with the strikes.
The poor Q1 results were also partly due to unexpected maintenance.
According to the Lufthansa Group, good results lead to new aircraft.
And long-haul remains the most profitable segment for Brussels Airlines.
2025 has to be better than 2024. We're not off to a great start.

This long haul is profitable, short haul not is not as easy as you think.
All companies have a certain price split formulation - typically the short haul segment gets a pro rata per stage length payment, thus the earnings are calculated there poorly.
Without a profitable short haul operations to support this, the feeder system won't work.

And the LCCs next door are shwoing every day that short haul can be operated pretty profitable.

New aircraft allocation is pretty simple - growth is there where they provide best economics, from revenue to savings of airport fees.

[oldblueeyes]

The 11th a330 start operation from june, the aircraft at the paintshop was planed not to fly at this moment si your statistic are not correct.

Concerning the "bad Q1 result" they are better than the Q1 of 2024 wich was a record year. It could have been even better without the unexpected maintenance indeed, but 2025 is far away from a bad start.

And on top of this the typical seasonal effect of Easter holidays comes this year in Q2.

[IronBirds@Brussels]

It seems OO-SFC left for Chateauroux (this morning), while OO-SFQ is still in Woensdrecht, and OO-SFH is in maintenance in BRU (not sure what that means), and a fourth one (OO-SFE) had a window broken due to a hail storm ...
So many birds in non-active mode ... Hope they can repair/solve/... things soon .
D

The lack of aircraft, with 30% of the long-haul fleet grounded, is not good for the Q2 results, especially combined with the strikes.
The poor Q1 results were also partly due to unexpected maintenance.
According to the Lufthansa Group, good results lead to new aircraft.
And long-haul remains the most profitable segment for Brussels Airlines.
2025 has to be better than 2024. We're not off to a great start.

The 11th a330 start operation from june, the aircraft at the paintshop was planed not to fly at this moment si your statistic are not correct.

Concerning the "bad Q1 result" they are better than the Q1 of 2024 wich was a record year. It could have been even better without the unexpected maintenance indeed, but 2025 is far away from a bad start.

The actual number is 10 aircraft, not 11, fair enough. My estimate was rough, but the point stands: with over 30% of the A330 fleet grounded, this isn’t “normal”, it’s alarming.

These are maintenance issues, yes, but it’s not the first time we've had recurring problems with the A330-300 CEO fleet. Our long-haul fleet is small, and unlike other airlines, we don't seem to have a proper contingency setup. When one aircraft goes AOG, there’s no backup. Flights get cancelled or passengers rebooked. We just “deal with it”, but it’s clear we don’t really have control over our network or scheduling.

These aircraft are aging, more prone to technical issues, and we mostly fly to Africa, a region where infrastructure, weather, and spare parts logistics are much more challenging.

Management needs to change. We should have a permanent standby aircraft ready to step in when there's a problem. This “let's just endure it” or “it’ll get better later” approach can’t continue, right?

[oldblueeyes]

These are maintenance issues, yes, but it’s not the first time we've had recurring problems with the A330-300 CEO fleet. Our long-haul fleet is small, and unlike other airlines, we don't seem to have a proper contingency setup. When one aircraft goes AOG, there’s no backup. Flights get cancelled or passengers rebooked. We just “deal with it”, but it’s clear we don’t really have control over our network or scheduling.

These aircraft are aging, more prone to technical issues, and we mostly fly to Africa, a region where infrastructure, weather, and spare parts logistics are much more challenging.

Management needs to change. We should have a permanent standby aircraft ready to step in when there's a problem. This “let's just endure it” or “it’ll get better later” approach can’t continue, right?

Diagnosis is correct, the point is lack of medicine.

See things as they are : A333 within the LH group are becoming free once the FRA hub has enough aircraft. There are several outlets affected by the whole delays : Austrian is not getting their 789, Discover flies the 332 longer, Munich had to transfer six A359 to FRA and so on.

333 from the free market, if not taken as a bunch, may have slightly different specs thus initial investment is needed.

Than - SN can spend any euro only once. From what it looks like, the priority is rather to modernize the short haul fleet with brand new A320.

[Atlantis]

As from next month the 11th plane will be in service. According the flight schedule, there will be all the time one plane not flying, thus having a spare plane

[nordikcam]

OO-SFJ is not in service for almost 2 weeks.
Must be some serious tech.

H.A.

OO-SFE is meanwhile back in operations
OO-SFJ was engine replacement.
OO-SFD was damaged by the ground handling in FNA and will be AOG for some weeks.
OO-SFC in CHR till the 24th of May
OO-SFQ in WOE till the 19the of May

OO-SNL hit by beltloader in BRU and AOG till the end of May.

Some delays for OO-SFQ ? I Guess SN needed it urgently ? No ?

[crew1990]

SFQ is plan de to enter info service in June, where du you see the delay yet?

[nordikcam]

SFQ is plan de to enter info service in June, where du you see the delay yet?

10 of may ...this topic, Delta Sierra said OO-SFQ in WOE till 19 of may...and I guess it did'nt fly...OK no delay. Just perfect.

[rwandan-flyer]

SFQ is plan de to enter info service in June, where du you see the delay yet?

10 of may ...this topic, Delta Sierra said OO-SFQ in WOE till 19 of may...and I guess it did'nt fly...OK no delay. Just perfect.

You seem to forget that some Aviation sectors were already suffering of staff shortage since several years and covid has worsen things with many lays off and early retirements, but also "normal retirements". Butt there are not enough Generation Z workers in every labor sector to fill the gap and replace baby boomers generation. So it's not just a small pb which affects only Brussels Airlines, but a global problem which affects all airlines in the world.

Most of them were very skilled staff with a big experience. It takes long time train someone (several years). And even if you hire many people it doesn't mean that they will be in your company the following year because they will fail to the test or they will leave your company due to the bad working conditions or for others reasons. So you can have big turnover and you work in Just-in-time flow. And when the demand is high you can't deal with this.


The aircraft maintenance skills deficit: An urgent issue https://www.aerotechcareers.com/posts/t ... gent-issue
https://www.exsyn.com/blog/staff-shorta ... aintenance

Then there is also a lack spares parts for aircraft and delays are long to get them. I will again repeat the same thing, but Air New Zealand, Kenya Airways are among the airline which have big troubles. 3 Kenya Airways B787 out 9 are grounded !! (https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/kenya/ ... r-AA1BGb7U)

5Y-KZA / 5Y-KZC / 5Y-KZH, so 6 B787s are currently flying, to serve Johannesburg, New York, Lagos, Dubai, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Amsterdam, London and Paris. They have leased Hifly A330 btw FEB24 and APR25. I won't focus on ERJ fleet but they are also suffering. They have 2 destroyed by the fire, some are stored (fleet retirement to be replaced by the B737-800 but process is long) but some of ERJs are stored due to parts shortage.

That's why they have reduced their ops in West and Central Africa.

Cost of flights to 'hit record high' due to parts shortage, says expert https://www.airport-technology.com/comm ... e-hold-up/ British Airways and Virgin Atlantic among affected airlines

Aviation is not just stats, you have women and men working everyday. I know the passengers don't care about this because they just want to arrive at its final destination. But at this point is a question of safety and in my opinion it's important to explain what's is happening "behind the scenes", because it's easy to give lessons beyond our keyboards. And i m sure that the same passengers will get the same reaction if i start to criticize their job.

[convair]

I fully agree with rwandan-flyer; time to get back to realities.

[oldblueeyes]

Let'S be straight forward - unlikely the late 10s, this decade is dominated by a heavy shortage of available aircraft among among all sizes and generations.

- both A220 and 320NEO families have engine issues, spare engines and parts are under supplied and delivered aircraft is partially in storage
- the B737 family faced delivery stops, certification issues, thus the backlog is delayed by a high 3 digit or even a 4 digit figure
- even the A320 family has in average months of delays
- the B787 family has still poor deliveries far away from the record rates one decade ago, not all produced aircraft are delivered
- the 777 pax production was stopped, the 779 is now 5 years delayed, likely 6+ until the first delivery

The only product family running without issues but under the radar is the 330NEO, but even with it being the backbone of ITA , unless the number of product families won't be simplyfied in the LH Group, there won't be any thought to order them.

[lumumba]

Let'S be straight forward - unlikely the late 10s, this decade is dominated by a heavy shortage of available aircraft among among all sizes and generations.

- both A220 and 320NEO families have engine issues, spare engines and parts are under supplied and delivered aircraft is partially in storage
- the B737 family faced delivery stops, certification issues, thus the backlog is delayed by a high 3 digit or even a 4 digit figure
- even the A320 family has in average months of delays
- the B787 family has still poor deliveries far away from the record rates one decade ago, not all produced aircraft are delivered
- the 777 pax production was stopped, the 779 is now 5 years delayed, likely 6+ until the first delivery

The only product family running without issues but under the radar is the 330NEO, but even with it being the backbone of ITA , unless the number of product families won't be simplyfied in the LH Group, there won't be any thought to order them.

Wouldn't the A330-900 be the ideal aircraft for Brussels Airlines if they could solve the noise problem?

[oldblueeyes]

The classic answer is ..it depends.

Let's agree as a starting point that the fleet harmonization of on A333 implemented in 2018/19 had anyhow an horizon of exchange to a new aircraft model somewhere around 2030.
Likely the judgement at that time was to operate at the smallest most efficient aircraft size (thus ceasing A332) and with the launches of the B789 and A359 around 2016 to bridge conveniently and with available ressources the time when these aircraft would be available as mid life planes on the market.

Thus, as of today and in line with this strategy, i see likely the A359 as front runner to replace the A333 or as plan B the B789.

As available money can be spent only once, i see also this period as a chance to renew the short haul fleet and onboard factory new A320NEOs, likely approx 12-15 would be in the fleet by 2030.

The A330 NEO is for sure as of today an established airplane, with rather quicker availability. Furthermore, with the onboarding of ITA in the group it is already part of the group fleet. Thinking even one step forward, as Lufthansa won't pursue (at least declarative) a participation in Air Europa and likely TAP may be a next consolidation candidate, the model could become even more established in the group.

Operationally it is also clear that the A339 is evolving as a good choice in emerging market where it generates a lot of orders.

If the noise issue won't be a problem anymore, SN may have 2 strategic options for onboarding the A330NEO:

1. Bringing it into the fleet at targeted renewal date
- may be an option if the 359 is to big and transition would be lean
- could have open windows within the group - eg if ITA would undergo an upgauging process from 339 to 359
- if 2nd hand, cost efficiency may be very good

2. Expanding now and replace afterwards
- likely the leasing cost would block state-of-the-art renewal on the short haul fleet
- politically within LH a difficult decision ( the delay of B789 deliveries postponed the reduction of long haul models , we speak here about the A332,A343,A346,B767 on short term)
- but may be a chance in 2-3 years once the B789 wave would be in
- with Edelweiss already switching to A359, Discover rumoring this (the 4 ex Phillipines) this may take away a chance in the future - not sure if 2034 the A359 won't be a better chance, especially as the profile of the company may adjust as well - eg if Africa would be served by other hubs, more TATL and other markets may require more space for premium seats