Brussels Airlines

[Kevin Farnell]

I know it doesn`t have any relavance to BHX but to Manchester a lot of the African business has gone to Ethiopian and Egyptair.

So, why mention it in the BHX forum?

 

[TM3]

So, why mention it in the BHX forum?

Maybe it's not my place to say but personally I think it is logical and useful to make comparisons with MAN as the 2 cities are very close in size and demographic.

I hope we are not going to go down the same route as the MAN forum where mention of BHX is verboten.

 

[route66]

Maybe it's not my place to say but personally I think it is logical and useful to make comparisons with MAN as the 2 cities are very close in size and demographic.

I hope we are not going to go down the same route as the MAN forum where mention of BHX is verboten.

Would I be allowed to post on the MAN forum if I wanted to?

 

[mullion]

Please do as far as I`m concerned there seems to be a total lack of people and a genuine conversation on Manchester is very welcome as many things are linked and I am always happy to chat, The Brussels conversation is relevant to both groups.

 

[IanFarquharson]

As it stands Brussels should recommence in Oct 24 at 2 daily - lets wait and see.
Summer 2024 suspended due lack of aircraft avaialbility.
This is from a reliable source.

 

[mullion]

The whole of Lufthansa group seems in a bit of a mess.
A Brussels A320 gone for scrapping this week and quite a few A319/320 also over winter and a couple new A320neos joined, Lufthansa cancelling routes ie LPL and BRS plus reducing some routes, has BHX lost any becuse I know MAN has lost a MUC and a FRA

 

[jfy1999]

As it stands Brussels should recommence in Oct 24 at 2 daily - lets wait and see.
Summer 2024 suspended due lack of aircraft avaialbility.
This is from a reliable source.

Didn’t Brussels Airlines use Cityjet aircraft last summer? There’s a crew shortage at Cityjet. It’s forced SAS to cancel flights. Could be a reason for the aircraft shortage?

I can see them cutting uk flights so that they can keep their summer seasonal destinations going. They have a good number of them, the likes of Greece, Morocco and so forth.

 

[Matt995]

Didn’t Brussels Airlines use Cityjet aircraft last summer? There’s a crew shortage at Cityjet. It’s forced SAS to cancel flights. Could be a reason for the aircraft shortage?

I can see them cutting uk flights so that they can keep their summer seasonal destinations going. They have a good number of them, the likes of Greece, Morocco and so forth.

last summer, we had 2 daily departures Monday-Friday, and 1 flight on Saturday/Sundays, the morning flight was an A319, the afternoon flight usually the CR9 of Cityjet

As far as I am aware Brussels this summer will fly to Manchester twice a day (both morning departures), and Heathrow three times a day. The days of regional flights to the likes of Bristol, Newcastle have long gone

 

[mullion]

One of the Brussels to Manchester is a night stopper and other arrives 10.00ish and seem to be using a mix of A319, A320 and A320neo which at present are only 2 aircraft

 

[nwoody2001]

there was an interesting post i saw on Linkedin about the SN route which put the fall in capacity from the UK to Brussels in context....

20 years ago - 13 UK airports had direct connections with BRU
10 years ago - 8 UK airports had direct connections with BRU
Summer'24 - Only 3 UK airports will direct connections with BRU (LHR/MAN/EDI)
Summer'24 - Only 59x weekly flights between BRU and the UK, this means there are now less flights to BRU then there are to the likes of MAD (66x weekly)

As ever, its always a shame to lose long-term customers from an airport, but its clear this is part of a wider trend than anything specifically BHX related.

 

[mullion]

Wow that is staggering.

 

[whateverg]

As it stands Brussels should recommence in Oct 24 at 2 daily - lets wait and see.
Summer 2024 suspended due lack of aircraft avaialbility.
This is from a reliable source.

Great news, thank you. However, a suspension is likely not going to be great for business traffic to return when it restarts

 

[Finger66]

Don't want to be deliberately negative here for you BHX guys but mainliner carriers are unlikely to have finalised any schedules for W24 just yet so I wouldn't read too much into BRU perhaps still showing as 2 daily from Oct. It may very well return as scheduled but the drop in traffic for UK to BRU is startling. Here at LBA we would love to have a BRU route but as already posted earlier someone said the days of regional flying to BRU itself are long gone - so we know our LBA service is not coming back. It's a sad reflection of the times but unfortunately we have to face facts

 

[rollo]

there was an interesting post i saw on Linkedin about the SN route which put the fall in capacity from the UK to Brussels in context....

20 years ago - 13 UK airports had direct connections with BRU
10 years ago - 8 UK airports had direct connections with BRU
Summer'24 - Only 3 UK airports will direct connections with BRU (LHR/MAN/EDI)
Summer'24 - Only 59x weekly flights between BRU and the UK, this means there are now less flights to BRU then there are to the likes of MAD (66x weekly)

Don't really know to say about those figures other than it scuppers the Brexit theory.

Don't want to be deliberately negative here for you BHX guys but mainliner carriers are unlikely to have finalised any schedules for W24 just yet so I wouldn't read too much into BRU perhaps still showing as 2 daily from Oct. It may very well return as scheduled but the drop in traffic for UK to BRU is startling. Here at LBA we would love to have a BRU route but as already posted earlier someone said the days of regional flying to BRU itself are long gone - so we know our LBA service is not coming back. It's a sad reflection of the times but unfortunately we have to face facts

Finger66 - good to see a LBA poster on here keep posting as far as I'm concerned (easy on the jokes) the only thing I'd say is the information posted is from Ian who is well informed and knowledgeable so at least we know its based on information rather than rumour/wishful thinking.

 

[nwoody2001]

Don't really know to say about those figures other than it scuppers the Brexit theory.

Really? Not sure how you have concluded that …and in fact I think it help to confirm the Brexit impact although I don’t think any conclusions can be drawn explicitly from the numbers above. The conclusions that can be drawn are as follows:

• In the last 10 years (the Brexit vote being 8 years ago), BRU has gone from service 8 UK Airports down to 3 UK airports.
• In the last 10 years, BRU Passenger levels have grown 16%
• The top 10 busiest routes out of BRU are all EU based with the exception of the LHR route.

If BRU is a growing and healthy airport over the last 10 years (which it appears to be), why is BRU – UK demand dropping so significantly?

 

[Kevin Farnell]

In the last 10 years (the Brexit vote being 8 years ago), BRU has gone from service 8 UK Airports down to 3 UK airports.

The vote was 8 years ago, but we only left 4 years ago.

 

[rollo]

Really? Not sure how you have concluded that …and in fact I think it help to confirm the Brexit impact although I don’t think any conclusions can be drawn explicitly from the numbers above. The conclusions that can be drawn are

In the last 10 years the UK lost five routes to Brussels in the previous ten years the UK also lost five routes.

Ten routes lost equally spread over twenty years.

BHX passenger figures in 2013 were 9.1 million in 2023 11.5 million a 29% increase figures rounded.

 

[TM3]

In the last 10 years the UK lost five routes to Brussels in the previous ten years the UK also lost five routes.

Ten routes lost equally spread over twenty years.

BHX passenger figures in 2013 were 9.1 million in 2023 11.5 million a 29% increase figures rounded.

Does that include Charleroi though? What about the number of seats per year rather than routes? Remember Ryanair flights are going to be more per rotation than SN due to much larger capacity aircraft.

 

[Finger66]

I think it is the locos that have changed the landscape rather than Brexit by itself. Yes it may have reduced P2P traffic for the legacy carriers but that's where the locos have jumped in. Must not be enough connecting traffic now. Don't get me wrong I would love to see SN making a massive UK return but just don't see it happening. That said if any UK airport is next in line to get an SN BRU link reinstated I would be extremely surprised if it isn't BHX. And I am saying that regardless of any West Yorkshire bias I may have so for you guys in the Midlands I hope it happens for you

 

[TM3]

I think it is the locos that have changed the landscape rather than Brexit by itself. Yes it may have reduced P2P traffic for the legacy carriers but that's where the locos have jumped in. Must not be enough connecting traffic now. Don't get me wrong I would love to see SN making a massive UK return but just don't see it happening. That said if any UK airport is next in line to get an SN BRU link reinstated I would be extremely surprised if it isn't BHX. And I am saying that regardless of any West Yorkshire bias I may have so for you guys in the Midlands I hope it happens for you

There is no loco Brussels at BHX though, not sure if there ever was for a sustained period of time...

There is both at MAN though and maybe at other UK airports with a big loco focus. Personally I'd rather have a route like that served by a full service airline with a hub there as it creates more potential for transfers, allows me to earn FF miles & staturs, there are a lot of A* carriers at BHX.

BRU is also a lot better located for the city of Brussels and other onward connections in Europe, being above it's own station which is connected to the main railway newwork.