BRU Summer 2015: latest news, routes, airlines

[RoMax]

I wander why SN is not flying to Bucharest. There is a huge Romanian community in Belgium but also a lot of Belgian companies are situated in Bucharest.
Tarom and Blu Air has some good frequencies but still I wander why SN is not flying on it.

Seeing SN adding routes such as Billund, Riga, Bordeaux, Zagreb and restarting Warsaw and Krakow, I think Bucharest could still come in let's say the next 2 years. Seems like a logical next step in Eastern Europe.

They have good codeshare with Tarom, but on the other had, they also already had a codeshare with airBaltic for Riga (or didn't they? I thought they had, but not 100% sure) and Croatia Airlines for Zagreb is even a full Miles&More member making them a partner which is even closer to SN. So who knows if they see potential in Bucharest as well (when will it be Romania's turn to the the EU presidency? Always seems a good reason for SN to try a new route and/or upgrade frequency to the respective capital of that country, logical of course)

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

Regarding the presidencies. Those are upcoming:

Latvia: January-June 2015
Luxembourg: July-December 2015
Netherlands: January-June 2016
Slovakia: July-December 2016
Malta: January-June 2017
United Kingdom: July-December 2017
Estonia: January-June 2018
Bulgaria: July-December 2018
Austria: January-June 2019
Romania: July-December 2019
Finland: January-June 2020

Regards,
Danny

[sn26567]

Luxembourg: July-December 2015

An opportunity to reinstate the BRU-LUX flights that were very successful with Sabena?

But now, unfortunately, there are many less possibilities of connections in BRU than with Sabena. People of Luxembourg who want intercontinental connections fly to FRA instead...

[sdbelgium]

Wizz Air operates a daily flight to Bucharest from Charleroi (there are flights priced at 14,99 euros one way in January, for instance).

There are also daily flights with Ryanair to OTP.

[Boeing767copilot]

There are also daily flight with Blue Air to OTP

[ezis_bis]

but on the other had, they also already had a codeshare with airBaltic for Riga (or didn't they? I thought they had, but not 100% sure)

Yes, they still do. You can even buy BT tickets via SN's webpage
Although I can understand OTP, I personally hope for TLL or HEL
They already serve VNO and RIX, and OV's CRJ900 are not that great. BRU is OV's main money maker, I heard.
On the other hand, TP just started TLL and seems they will pull out end of January, it is a small and not very wealthy destination.

[DannyVDB]

Luxembourg: July-December 2015

An opportunity to reinstate the BRU-LUX flights that were very successful with Sabena?

Don't think so. Travel by air is forbidden for trips below 400km for EU staff or EU projects (in which EU money is spent) ...

So all extra travel between LUX en BRU in the context of the presidency will not make use of air transport. And for those that think they are smart: also going from BRU-LUX via FRA will not be tolerated

Cheers,
Danny

[White Light]

You're right, about EU officials and staff based in Brussels, but during the Luxembourg presidency there will be member states representatives and experts travelling to LUX from all other member states and the distance they travel will be over 400 km. Apart from that, there are quite a lot of high yield pax from/to LUX all year round and why would SN not have its share of it by operating at least three daily flights offering good connections to/from BRU. I personally find BRU a better and more pax friendly airport than FRA where most pax to/from LUX connect.
What about an ACMI by VLM or Denim Air ? Too expensive ?

[VEX802]

As of summer season 2015 BRU-LYS is not longer bookable on the Easyjet-website.

[Inquirer]

Indeed, that seems to be the case indeed!
According to a message generated by them when trying to book, the route is available till 27 March, so that seems to indicate they will discontinue it as from next summer season indeed.
PItty, but good news for the others on the route, of course.

Are they going to do anything new at BRU next year?
Seems the low costs in general have less appetite for massive growth in BRU after last year's rush to launch tens of new routes all at once.

[sn26567]

As usual, airlines are very prompt to announce new flights, but remain silent when they stop flights.

[Inquirer]

As usual, airlines are very prompt to announce new flights, but remain silent when they stop flights.

However, what's odd is that this is a route they have been serving for a considerable time (please fill us in on how many years exactly they have been linking Lyons with Brussels), so I am curious as to what made them decide to pull out after all those years? What changed for them? Anybody with more background information?

[azingrew]

I did LYS /BRU with EZ on the 7/12 , BRU/LYS the 30/th and LYS/BRU yesterday. All 3 legs were absolutely packed. Very surprised .. and disappointed they are cancelling.

[CRJ 900]

Hi,
Last couple of years I flew multiple times to LYS (before I used the TGV or car to Lyon). Most of the time I use LX, on a few occasions SN. I also looked at U2. I never take them because their schedule is terrible for business trips. Low frequencies and inadequate hours. Even SN's schedule is not good. Although they have a rather sufficient frequency and their afternoon/evening flights are OK, their morning flight is way too late to appeal. Arrriving around 11a.m. doesn't allow much meetings/visits in the morning.
You could take AF/A5, but personally I don't like to fly them. For a long time the best solution (and often cheaper or at least on the same price level) for me was flying via ZRH with LX. By taking the 7a.m to ZRH, quick transfer in ZRH, I ended up around 10a.m. in LYS. Unfortunately LX earlied their ZRH-LYS morning rotation. So I cannot use this link anymore. So I did the same trick with LH now via FRA or even better directly from DUS arriving at 8h25 in LYS.
Kind regards,
CRJ 900

[Inquirer]

It seems Vueling does no longer offer non stop flights between BRU and VCE this summer?

[Stij]

In retrospect:

FR's BRU base wasn't an attack against SN...
It was an answer to Vueling opening up a base in their CRL garden...

Cheers,

Stij

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

Am I correct that Etihad will fly 12x weekly to BRU thanks to the World Economic Forum in Davos (CH)? News announced on Flemish radio StuBru at 1pm if I heard well...!

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

Just found this article: http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20150123_01489672

Summary:
- satisfied at BRU
- airline wants 14x weekly (2x daily?)
- to be confirmed in upcoming weeks

Great news for Brussels Airport and its customers!

[Atlantis]

Etihad is asking already a while for more flights ex-BRU but never received it. Via this way they can set some extra pressure to receive it as more more eyes are now focussed on them and the pressure is higher.

So let's hope for those extra flights

[DannyVDB]

Why could they not have more flights in the past?

Is there a limit in the number of flights between Brussels/Abu Dhabi? Does this have to do with bilateral agreements? If so are those between Belgium and UAE, or between Belgium and the individual emirates?

Regards,
Danny