BRU Summer 2025: news, new routes, airlines

[DannyVDB]

Concerning MH it will be kind of the same, a consolidation of the existing network with more frequencies. One new destination ex-thomas cook served 1 time weekly a hint it’s an island.

Might it be Madeira ? Would love to see that one, we went there with Thomas Cook years ago ... Those who like hiking/walking and plants/flowers: Madeira is the place to be

Danny, Goyang, South Korea

[Miqvell]

Concerning MH it will be kind of the same, a consolidation of the existing network with more frequencies. One new destination ex-thomas cook served 1 time weekly a hint it’s an island.

Might it be Madeira ? Would love to see that one, we went there with Thomas Cook years ago ... Those who like hiking/walking and plants/flowers: Madeira is the place to be

Danny, Goyang, South Korea

It's surely either Madeira or Cabo Verde.

[DannyVDB]

Concerning the 11th a330, there will be no other destination added but rather a consolidation of the network. More frequencies, less triangular flight.

Nairobi and Accra will be served daily, Dakar and Abidjan will have on some days direct flight.

The new A330 will bring 5 extra weekly flight in the network leaving the 2 other day some flexibility in case of irregularities.

That sounds logic to me. Question: Accra was served during the summer in combination with Lomé. Does it mean, also Lomé will get a 7th flight?

Cheers,
D

[crew1990]

There is an optimization of the triangular flight to optimize the fuel cost on destination so some changes in rotation might be expected.

[Atlantis]

Concerning the 11th a330, there will be no other destination added but rather a consolidation of the network. More frequencies, less triangular flight.

Nairobi and Accra will be served daily, Dakar and Abidjan will have on some days direct flight.

The new A330 will bring 5 extra weekly flight in the network leaving the 2 other day some flexibility in case of irregularities.

Concerning MH it will be kind of the same, a consolidation of the existing network with more frequencies. One new destination ex-thomas cook served 1 time weekly a hint it’s an island.

CDG will go 3x daily to feed the long haul traffic

Makes sense. 2024 trying to be in black figures/ profit again. 2025 to consolidate the current destinations, optimize them with higher frequencies to have, and hope, higher profit.
2026 to expand with new destinations.

[Boeing767copilot]

Concerning MH it will be kind of the same, a consolidation of the existing network with more frequencies. One new destination ex-thomas cook served 1 time weekly a hint it’s an island.

Might it be Madeira ? Would love to see that one, we went there with Thomas Cook years ago ... Those who like hiking/walking and plants/flowers: Madeira is the place to be

Danny, Goyang, South Korea

It's surely either Madeira or Cabo Verde.

Or Corfu (CFU)?

[Miqvell]

Might it be Madeira ? Would love to see that one, we went there with Thomas Cook years ago ... Those who like hiking/walking and plants/flowers: Madeira is the place to be

Danny, Goyang, South Korea

It's surely either Madeira or Cabo Verde.

Or Corfu (CFU)?

CFU is already served 2x weekly.

[crew1990]

LH SN programme for S25:

I took those info on the SN booking engine for the 2nd week of July

Monday 10 flights
Dakar-Banjul
Conakry-Freetown
Accra-Lomé
Cotonou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa (direct)
Entebbe-Kigali
Nairobi (direct)
New York (direct)
Washington (direct)

Tuesday 9 flights
Dakar-Conakry
Monrovia-Freetown
Accra-Lomé
Ouagadougou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa-Luanda
Entebbe-Kigali
Nairobi (direct)
New York (direct)

Wednesday 10 flights
Dakar-Banjul
Monrovia-Freetown
Accra-Lomé
Ouagadougou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa (direct)
Entebbe-Bujumbura
Nairobi-Kigali
New York (direct)
Washington (direct)

Thursday 9 flights
Dakar-Conakry
Accra-Lomé
Cotonou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa (direct)
Entebbe-Kigali
Nairobi (direct)
New York (direct)
Washington (direct)

Friday 10 flights
Dakar-Banjul
Monrovia-Freetown
Accra-Lomé
Ouagadougou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa (direct)
Entebbe-Kigali
Nairobi (direct)
New York (direct)
Washington (direct)

Saturday 10 flights

Dakar (direct)
Conakry-Banjul
Accra-Cotonou
Abidjan (direct)
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa (direct)
Entebbe-Kigali
Nairobi (direct)
New York (direct)
Washington (direct)

Sunday 10 flights

Dakar (direct)
Conakry-Banjul
Freetown-Monrovia
Accra-Lomé
Ouagadougou-Abidjan
Douala-Yaoundé
Kinshasa-Luanda
Entebbe-Bujumbura
Nairobi-Kigali
New York (direct)

Some interesting note on this schedule,
-Dakar; Accra; Abidjan; Douala; Yaoundé; Kinshasa; Entebbe; Kigali; Nairobi; New York are all operated daily, this is 10 destinations out of the 20!
-East Africa is reaching the maximum capacity for a 2 A330 ops as there is now 2 east Africa flight daily.
-On Saturday 6 out of 10 flights are direct
-On Sunday 18 out of 20 destinations are served, 17 out of 18 african destination.
-There a more direct flight but also some « W » pattern like BRU-OUA-ABJ-OUA-BRU are changed to triangular flight like BRU-OUA-ABJ-BRU, so even more direct flight for PAX

[convair]

Interesting.
If the routes given are corect, it is also interesting to note that Banjul, Lomé, Bujumbura, Kigali and Yaoundé don't have a direct flight. Same now for Luanda apparently.

[crew1990]

Interesting.
If the routes given are corect, it is also interesting to note that Banjul, Lomé, Bujumbura, Kigali and Yaoundé don't have a direct flight. Same now for Luanda apparently.

I actually "just" sumurised the destination per flight, but not the flight pattern. Concerning Luanda for example, it still BRU-LAD-FIH-BRU, Bujumbura this is BRU-BJM-EBB-BRU

[fcw]

… also some « W » pattern like BRU-OUA-ABJ-OUA-BRU are changed to triangular flight like BRU-OUA-ABJ-BRU, so even more direct flight for PAX

Not correct! More nonstop from ABJ to BRU, but less from OUA, so no change overall.
(On a side note: direct is not the same as nonstop)

[crew1990]

… also some « W » pattern like BRU-OUA-ABJ-OUA-BRU are changed to triangular flight like BRU-OUA-ABJ-BRU, so even more direct flight for PAX

Not correct! More nonstop from ABJ to BRU, but less from OUA, so no change overall.
(On a side note: direct is not the same as nonstop)

Indeed, you are right my bad on this one.

[travellover]

Shouldn't the detailed SN program be part of the more specific Brussels Airlines summer 2025 topic.

So a maximum of 10 LH flights a day.
An elevent A333 joining the fleet.
Always at least one plane ready on the BRU ground to replace a canceled flight ?

Thanks.

[fcw]

So a maximum of 10 LH flights a day.
An elevent A333 joining the fleet.
Always at least one plane ready on the BRU ground to replace a canceled flight ?

Not at all! You are forgetting about maintenance, paint jobs, cabin updating…
This schedule is quite challenging for an ageing fleet operating exclusively ETOPS or Africa!

[crew1990]

I wonder if you are expecting, 2 daily a330 waiting on the ground in BRU, 1 in JFK and 1 in Kinshasa in case of irregularities in US or Africa to make you « happy »?

Pre-covid there were 10 A330 with 9 daily flight every day and 10 flight on Sunday, at this time I could agree with you.

But now things are different there is 1 aircraft on the ground almost every day and even 2 aircraft 2 days of the week.

Heavy maintenance and painting take place during winter this is why the production is lowered during winter season and that Washington stop end of September begin of October.

4 A330 a planned to go to the paint shop this year, SFB is already painted, and the 3 other will be painted during WINTER. The cabin modification take place at the same time than the heavy maintenance, for example OO-SFJ is at the moment in MNL for the maintenance but is also getting new mood lighting, carpet, Nespresso machine in the galley etc…

When an aircraft is landing in BRU at 5 in the morning, the aircraft does not stay gently on the parking stand enjoying a coffee break before the next bunch of pax. There again things are happening, light maintenance, fixing what need to be fixed etc.

In the past, all flight were departing around 10.30, now the wave is spread untill 2 pm leaving some buffer for the maintenance.

When an aircraft is not flying, it is in the hangar for some extra work. In case of irregularities the aircraft is getting airworthy as soon as possible and get back on the line.

So no I didn’t forgot all those point. Brussels Airlines neither.

[fcw]

I wonder if you are expecting, 2 daily a330 waiting on the ground in BRU, 1 in JFK and 1 in Kinshasa in case of irregularities in US or Africa to make you « happy »?

Hold your hourses young (wo)man/x!
Time will tell how challenging the schedule is.

[crew1990]

Someone would be fool to think there will be no cancellation and I did not pretend it. Of course there will be some day when we will have the Murphy law hitting with a bird strike in FIH, a ground collision with handling car in New York and on top of that an hydraulic leaking in BRU and then some flight will have to be cancelled, this unavoidable, this is aviation.

But let’s not focus on operation only and let’s see the full picture.

In 2023 SN made her best result ever, 53 million € and flown 8,3 million of pax. This is a revenue of around 6,4€ per passenger by the way.

Of course we would all be happy to have 3 aircrafts on the ground just in case of. But we have to face the reality, there is just no room budget wise for that. An extra aircraft would cost much more than 53 million a year.

Things are not perfect, I don’t know any airlines which never cancel flights. But we can’t deny that SN is going the right way at the moment!

[fcw]

In 2023 SN made her best result ever, 53 million € and flown 8,3 million of pax. This is a revenue of around 6,4€ per passenger by the way.

Of course we would all be happy to have 3 aircrafts on the ground just in case of. But we have to face the reality, there is just no room budget wise for that. An extra aircraft would cost much more than 53 million a year.

Things are not perfect, I don’t know any airlines which never cancel flights. But we can’t deny that SN is going the right way at the moment!

Nobody wants three spare aircraft and no airline can cope with mishaps affecting 30% of their fleet, once again there’s no need for exaggeration!
Do you have an idea how much compensation SN paid in 2023?
(By the way 6,4€ is the profit per pax not the revenue)

[crew1990]

Nobody wants three spare aircraft and no airline can cope with mishaps affecting 30% of their fleet, once again there’s no need for exaggeration!
Do you have an idea how much compensation SN paid in 2023?

There are already two spare aircraft two days a week and the 5 other days of the week there is 1 aircraft available but you seem to suggest it still not enough. And yes they are available as they can get back in the line if needed. I do no think that 3 spare aircraft is needed so at least we agree on that point.

Compensation have a cost and this is why if a flight need to be cancelled this is usually IAD or JFK wich are beeing taken out of the shedule as the pax can be rebooked on United of other carrier to avoid hotel cost etc etc. But even if it has a cost it will always be lower then having a non flying aircraft. I do not have the cost of the irregularities but the financial department yes they do have those data and take them into account.

(By the way 6,4€ is the profit per pax not the revenue)

Ok thank you for the info, anyway my point here was simply to show that there is a limitation in term financial capacity (or I don't know what is the exact term ) Ressources are limited, and the allocation of the different budget need to be in accordance with those ressources, that was just it.

[rwandan-flyer]

In 2023 SN made her best result ever, 53 million € and flown 8,3 million of pax. This is a revenue of around 6,4€ per passenger by the way.

Of course we would all be happy to have 3 aircrafts on the ground just in case of. But we have to face the reality, there is just no room budget wise for that. An extra aircraft would cost much more than 53 million a year.

Things are not perfect, I don’t know any airlines which never cancel flights. But we can’t deny that SN is going the right way at the moment!

Nobody wants three spare aircraft and no airline can cope with mishaps affecting 30% of their fleet, once again there’s no need for exaggeration!
Do you have an idea how much compensation SN paid in 2023?
(By the way 6,4€ is the profit per pax not the revenue)

Many airlines are struggling because they don't have enough aircraft to operate flights, because it's hard to get brand new or second hand aircraft. And there a still problems for the maintenance (lack of staff, troubles on some engines on NEO, E2 or 787 and huge delays to get components )

Brussels Airlines is not ONLY the airline in this situation.

Virgin has recently canceled the resuming of their flights to Accra for 2025 (and so close bookings), because they don't have enough aircraft.

Virgin Atlantic Postpones London Heathrow – Accra Route to Winter 2025-2026 Season Amid Reservation Closure https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news ... n-closure/

British Airways will end Dallas flight (biggest AA hub !!!!), also due to the fleet troubles (can't not replace the A380 by the A350 and they have many issues with the B787). British Airways drops Dallas flights, cuts Miami: https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/11/0 ... s-flights/

Air India is currently reducing its flights to USA due to the fleet troubles. Air India to cancel 100+ India – US flight operations during peak travel season of November & December 2024 : https://livefromalounge.com/air-india-t ... mber-2024/

I can post 5, 10 more articles like thaht. I can imagine how some people there would recat if, SN would canceled its return to Nairobi, end its JFK route and cancel 30-40 flights or more to Africa many weeks ahead the peak periods.

Many people are too focusing on what's happening at Brussels Airlines which of course has its own problem without to see that a big part of airlines in the world have serious troubles about flights operations. Covid is behind us, but the aviation still struggling.