BRU Summer 2026: news, new routes, airlines

[Atlantis]

Just as side note. Travel demand from Belgium to The States, and especially New York, dropped with 20%.

This is less than in our neighbouring countries

[lumumba]

Just as side note. Travel demand from Belgium to The States, and especially New York, dropped with 20%.

This is less than in our neighbouring countries

We are somewhat less affected because we have fewer tourists and more business trips to Brussels.

[brabel]

Just as side note. Travel demand from Belgium to The States, and especially New York, dropped with 20%.

This is less than in our neighbouring countries

We are somewhat less affected because we have fewer tourists and more business trips to Brussels.

And Delta stopped flying to NY, and United canceled the second daily flight.

[rwandan-flyer]

Just as side note. Travel demand from Belgium to The States, and especially New York, dropped with 20%.

This is less than in our neighbouring countries

We are somewhat less affected because we have fewer tourists and more business trips to Brussels.

The problem is that Atlantis didn't put a link to his information, so we don"t know the context. Ex: wich type of market is more affected ? Biz or Leisure. And why some countries have less drop ? Because i have found an article with a 16% drop but not 20%. And we don't know if it's for all 2025 year, a trimester, a quarter or a a month.

I know some people will get fed up, but please include a link to the article(s) (when possible) when you publish information, and not just the source: Djaviation. It's not up to others to go and find the information.

Apr25 European travel to US sees sharpest decline since 2009

[...]

Belgian travel to the US dropped by 16% since President Donald Trump's second term, according to reports by L'Echo and De Tijd on Tuesday.

In March 2025, 905,603 visitors from Western Europe entered the US, marking a 17% year-on-year decrease, the worst annual drop (excluding the pandemic) since 2009. This decline coincided with the US entering a major recession due to the financial crisis.

Specifically, 18,824 Belgians visited the US last month, which is a 16% decrease compared to a year earlier. The decline has intensified over the previous months, falling 9% in February and 3% in January.

25Dec25 Big drop in Belgian tourists travelling to the United States

Fewer and fewer visitors are travelling to the United States, figures from the International Trade Organisation show. Belgians too are shying away from visits to the States. In recent years, the tourism sector in the US has been steadily recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, but this year there has been a new, sharp decline in international tourism. “Two reasons are often cited: fear that visitors will not be allowed to enter the country, and fundamental objections to the policies of US president Donald J. Trump,” says VRT News North America editor Thomas De Graeve.

[...]


Thomas De Graeve, VRT NEWS North America editor (pictured), also notices rising concern regarding trips to the US among friends and family. “Friends and family in Belgium who are considering travelling to the US have many questions. Will everything go smoothly at the border? Will we be allowed in? Once we're here, will it be safe, given all the stories about police on the streets and crime? You often hear these kinds of concerns voiced.”

“Folk who do travel usually don't encounter any problems. Stories about problems at the border do the rounds, but they remain exceptional experiences. Acquaintances who arrived recently have had virtually no problems, and once here, daily life for tourists appears to have hardly changed, despite the way the media sometimes portrays it.”

However, Thomas De Graeve realises that this is not the case for everyone.

[fcw]

The problem is that Atlantis didn't put a link to his information, so we don"t know the context. Ex: wich type of market is more affected ? Biz or Leisure. And why some countries have less drop ? Because i have found an article with a 16% drop but not 20%. And we don't know if it's for all 2025 year, a trimester, a quarter or a a month.

You are confusing 2025 figures with 2026 booking numbers!

[longwings]

Just as side note. Travel demand from Belgium to The States, and especially New York, dropped with 20%.

Is that based on total enplanements from BRU to NYC, or trips originating in BRU only or some other data?

Overall, it is factually correct to say that less Europeans are visiting the US, but that is a concern for tourist authorities, less so airlines as more Americans are visiting Europe and the two offset one another.

Data from the International Trade Administration show month-on-month increase in traffic between the US and Europe for every month in 2025 compared to 2024, with the exception of March (-1.2%) and December (-0.3%). Highest growth was in October (+5.0%).
https://www.trade.gov/travel-and-tourism-industry-news
(they don't publish city-specific figures and I don't have a public source of data more granular than EU-wide that covers all of 2025)

And Delta stopped flying to NY, and United canceled the second daily flight.

Where airports like BRU are losing out (and AMS, CDG, or FRA for that matter) is more Americans are willing to pay a premium to fly non-stop to places like PMO, NAP, DBV, or FAO so aircraft are redeployed to these destinations at the expense of a second daily EWR-BRU.

[lumumba]

Where airports like BRU are losing out (and AMS, CDG, or FRA for that matter) is more Americans are willing to pay a premium to fly non-stop to places like PMO, NAP, DBV, or FAO so aircraft are redeployed to these destinations at the expense of a second daily EWR-BRU.

This market is also growing for US tourists the south of europe is cheap.And very comfortable.
Much cheaper than Florida or California.

For the purchase of second homes, people from the USA have become very large customers.

[Miqvell]

Transavia will base a 4th B737 from the end of June and boost several destinations.

[luchtzak]

Transavia will base a 4th B737 from the end of June and boost several destinations.

Together with the launch of a base: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air- ... mmer-2026/

[BrightCedars]

On a side note, also Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong are doing very good.

Do you have data? I flew CX to HKG in C early December and the cabin was full but I don't think the plane was. I flew SQ from SIN in PE last weekend and that cabin was less than 1/2, C seemed very spaced out, only Y seemed to be busier. So from this perspective I'm not convinced those flights were breaking even. And as you see I try to do my share of supporting BRU

[BRU_AV_123]

On a side note, also Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong are doing very good.

Do you have data? I flew CX to HKG in C early December and the cabin was full but I don't think the plane was. I flew SQ from SIN in PE last weekend and that cabin was less than 1/2, C seemed very spaced out, only Y seemed to be busier. So from this perspective I'm not convinced those flights were breaking even. And as you see I try to do my share of supporting BRU

I have taken the CX flight already for 5 round trips since its start and 8/10 flights were nearly full in all classes (with PE class usually the least full relatively speaking). Only the flight I took in its first week and during Christmas were around 75% full. I am quite confident this one is doing well.

Singapore Airlines I have my doubts as well. It never Seems really busy when their flight is boarding and the few times I took it, the flight was far from full. Of course, connections there are far less interesting for Belgian travelers than what CX can offer.

[Atlantis]

On a side note, also Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong are doing very good.

Do you have data? I flew CX to HKG in C early December and the cabin was full but I don't think the plane was. I flew SQ from SIN in PE last weekend and that cabin was less than 1/2, C seemed very spaced out, only Y seemed to be busier. So from this perspective I'm not convinced those flights were breaking even. And as you see I try to do my share of supporting BRU

Internal data from BRU itself

[ZavCity]

just returned from SIN with SQ...While the flight BRU-SIN was rather full, the flight back seemed only 70 pc full..

[lumumba]

Measuring load factors isn't very useful; I fly to Africa regularly, and load factors rarely exceed 70%. And yet, these are profitable routes.

[Atlantis]

The months which you are talking now are the less busiest in general. December still quite busy, but around Christmas, the business starts to slow down.
January is a very calm month.

I would say that 70% on return is still very good.
Ethiopian Airlines has now also lower business bcs of the season.

But what is very important is the very valuable cargo on board.

[Miqvell]

KM Malta Airlines adds an early departure at 10am on Tuesday, bringing the total to 8 weekly.

[Miqvell]

Vueling increases Malaga from 6 to 9 weekly, double daily on Tuesday and Thursday.

Summer network
BCN 32 / ALC 12 / AGP 9 / PMI 4 / BIO 3 / FLR 3 / VLC 2

Vueling continues to expand its schedule, with increased frequencies to Palma (5) and Valencia (3) for the peak summer season.
They will operate a total of 67 weekly rotations, making it the third most important airline at BRU.

[Atlantis]

Almost one month before Summer season 2026 will start. Time to make an overview of what we can expect.

Short and medium haul:

Transavia: opening a crew base in Brussels and adding a fourth plane in BRU.

Brussels Airlines: Copenhagen: 5 extra flights. Praque: 4 extra weekly flights. Budapest: 2 extra weekly flights and 17 extra flights to Spain and Portugal (Barcelona, Malaga, Porto and Alicante).

SAS: Copenhagen: 5 times a day. Stockholm: 2 times a day. Oslo: 2 times a day.

GP Aviation: route to Pristina on 30th March with 2 weekly flights with the B734.

LOT Polish Airlines: new flight to Gdansk from 29th April with 4 weekly flights. Aircraft with be the B737Max.

TUI: new flight to Kayseri as from 19th June with 2 weekly flights.

Volotea: new airline and destination: Asturia on 31st March, 3 weekly flights with the A320.

Air Serbia: increase on the Belgrade route from 3 to 5 weekly flights.

Vueling: new flight to Palma on 26st March with 4 weekly flights and up to 6 weekly flights before the Summer season.
Many increases from them on several routes.

Royal Air Maroc: flight to Tetouanon 27th March with 2 weekly flights with the E190.

KM Malta: adding an extra early departure. 8 weekly flights.



Long haul:

Air Canada: YYZ 4 times a week with the B789

Air Canada: bigger aircraft on the YUL route: B77W as from 1st June

Air Canada: new flight from Halifax on 19th June. 3 weekly flights with the B737Max.

Delta Airlines: Flight to Atlanta as from 9th March with daily flights.

ANA: increase to 3 weekly flights

Brussels Airlines: as of 3rd June, new flight to Kilimanjaro with 2 weekly flights.

Brussels Airlines: from 31st March till 31st May, only 4 times a week to IAD instead of 5 times a week.

LATAM: New airline and destination as from 1st June 2026 to Sao Paulo with the B789. 3 Times a week

Air Transat: increase from 4 to 5 weekly flights with the A321LR to YUL.

Air Senegal: flights to Dakar. Continuation from Winter 2025-2026.

Air China: daily to Beijing with the A332 as from 24th March.

Air China: flights to Chengdu: 3 times weekly with the A333 as from 26th March

[DannyVDB]

Hi Atlantis,

Is Chongqing not new for the summer season, or as it only for the winter season?

Etihad started using bigger planes, will that continue in summer time?

Cheers,
Danny

[Atlantis]

Hi Atlantis,

Is Chongqing not new for the summer season, or as it only for the winter season?

Etihad started using bigger planes, will that continue in summer time?

Cheers,
Danny

Hi Danny, Chongqing will be indeed also during Summer 2026. Sorry about forgetting that.

Also a few other European airlines who started flights during Winter 2025-2026, will continue doing that during Summer 2026.

Mainly, I highlight the new announced routes for that specific time.