Brussels Airlines

[Wrightfly73]

Yes it is good news, I believe it is 1x daily (excluding Sat) A319 initially from September. Not sure what the new full schedule will look like at BHX as currently the 4x daily CR9s are still showing for winter which we know won't be the case anymore as Brussels have cancelled it's wet lease of all 5 aircraft from CityJet.

 

[Nethercote2019]

Great news they are coming back & any frequency & a/c type is good, it’s strange but the new normal is ... when you see title you worry it’s more bad news !

 

[Matt995]

fingers crossed, but Brussels Airlines should return back to Birmingham today, A319 OO-SSB on SN2047 at 17:10, flight operates on a Monday and Friday.

 

[rollo]

fingers crossed, but Brussels Airlines should return back to Birmingham today, A319 OO-SSB on SN2047 at 17:10, flight operates on a Monday and Friday.

Showing due at 1710 on flight radar A319 also on the airports arrivals board, so looking good another one back.

 

[HPsauce]

Unfortunately today's Brussels Airlines was cancelled.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Brussels Airlines schedule summer 2024:

6x weekly no Saturday flights

 

[Timberwolf]

Brussels Airlines schedule summer 2024:

6x weekly no Saturday flights

Are they using 319/320s ?

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Are they using 319/320s ?

Looks like A319
Summer just gone they were using CRJ9s

Subject to change

 

[HPsauce]

Brussels Airlines schedule summer 2024:

6x weekly no Saturday flights

Seems like less and less Brussels Airlines. I can still remember British Midland 3 x daily back in the 80's.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Seems like less and less Brussels Airlines. I can still remember British Midland 3 x daily back in the 80's.

I think A319 and 6 weekly suits Brussels Airlines.

 

[tompo]

Brussels has become consistently less important as a business destination since Brexit and the current offering from BHX and other UK airports reflect this.

 

[Paulsstrange]

Brussels airlines website shows 2 daily a319 weekdays April 24..…...

I haven't checked beyond April

 

[Timberwolf]

Looks like A319
Summer just gone they were using CRJ9s

Subject to change

Thanks, that's encouraging then

 

[laviation]

BRU-BHX has been decreased to 5 weekly in the OAG starting in April. No Saturday or Sunday flight.

 

[BhxJack]

Unfortunately we have lost all flights to Brussels for summer 2024 and are not sure if it will return

 

[Paulsstrange]

Wow bhx cracks continue.......

 

[nwoody2001]

Seems their drop to 5x weekly in summer resulted in the loss of most of their connections meaning the route has to be sustainable on its point to point traffic which seems isn't the case!

Last flight on the 30th March (currently flying 10x weekly) with current schedule suggesting the route restarts at the end of October at 12x weekly. Obviously we have no idea what's happening behind the scenes as to why they reduced capacity so low over summer (airline or airport linked) but lets hope its temporary!

 

[Matt995]

I still blame covid for the lost or reductions of some of these routes. Its quite clear, that Birmingham is struggling to attached the business passengers back.

The core routes such as Brussels, Munich, Frankfurt, Paris CDG and Zurich, with the likes of Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, Swiss, and the non return of Austrian on the Vienna route seem to be struggling, businesses are prefering to do business over the internet with the likes of Zoom, Teams, for meetings, they no longer need to travel to these key business hubs for face to face meetings.

Is Birmingham now turning into a leisure airport only? On this basis, the chance of flights to the likes of New York or ohter USA destinations from Birmingham, don't stand a chance of ever happening.

 

[TM3]

I've used used Brussels Airlines in the past, it used to be a good budget connection to Euro services with an easy airport to transit through. Brussels is also an underated city break destination, particularly if you like beer, chocolate or chips.

When frequency drops to below 2 per day in it can decrease the scope of connections and flights that can be sold so I completely agree this route is in trouble.

I think the COVID issues are becoming less relevant now and there is clearly pent up demand for business and leisure travel.

2 factors I would point to:

As a (lesser loved) member of the Lufthansa group is SN somewhat the victim of LH's management's likely instinct to cut services outside of Germany first and restore them last. SN has in the past struggled to find a place for itself in the LH group and has been bundled up as a budget carrier with Eurowings.

Also as the defacto capital of the European Union might there be less traffic on that route specifically post brexit with no MEPs, businesses looking for grants, media etc.?

 

[nwoody2001]

I think there is a big jump to go from the above new to the assumption that BHX is destined to become a leisure only airport.

I think your right in so-far that Covid and the loss of business travel will continue to change travel trends from airports like BHX. But as well as BHX, this will impact on the smaller business/national carrier.

Brussels used to be a big connector from BHX into Africa, however when looking on Google flights to the likes of BHX-ABJ/ACC/LAD/NBO (all of which are key African routes for Brussels), you have the likes of Air France/KLM, Turkish, Lufthansa, Qatar, Emirates and even Saudi all coming up as better options than Brussels. Consequently, with consolidation happening all over aviation with Lowcost of massive hub operators in Europe, and the big global connectors in the Middle East (which BHX has more now than it has ever had), the question is where does the likes of Brussels airlines fit...? They are not business premium, they are not high frequency and they are not low cost. its a brutal battle ground for sure...

Yes Brussels did used to operate 4x daily out of BHX in the past but that was long before RYR/EZY/Jet2 had the european leisure market covered and the likes of LH/AF/KL/QR/TK/EK/SV had the global connections covered.