Brussels Airlines reconnects Bristol Airport with Brussels Airport

Brussels Airlines reconnects Bristol Airport with Brussels Airport


The Belgian airline will connect Bristol with Brussels 12 times a week. The first flight from Bristol to Brussels will take off on September 1st. Brussels Airlines offers daily flights between five airports in the UK the capital of Europe.

The connection between Bristol Airport and Brussels Airport is not entirely new, as wetlease partner flybmi used to operate this route for Brussels Airlines until February this year. As the connection between both cities remains of strategic importance to the airline, Brussels Airlines now reconnects both airports with its wet lease operator CityJet. The first flight to Brussels takes off on September 1st. As from then, the airline operates the route six times a week until October 27th, when the airline increases its frequencies to 12 weekly flights.

Andreas Koester Senior Director Sales for the UK, Ireland and Iceland Lufthansa Group said:

“The new connection between Bristol and Brussels is an important expansion to the Lufthansa Group network in the UK, where we offer flights to the European mainland out of 12 different airports. With two flights daily out of Bristol, Brussels Airlines offers point-to-point passengers a flexible schedule and create a broad range of possibilities for passengers connecting to one of the many other destinations in our network.”

Nigel Scott, Business Development Director, Bristol Airport said:

“We are delighted Brussels Airlines will be returning to Bristol Airport and operating flights between Bristol and Brussels, the route will also offer extensive onward connectivity options for passengers. The service will appeal to passengers whether travelling for business or leisure. It offers opportunities for inbound visitors using Bristol as a gateway to the region. With frequent travel connections, inbound tourists will be able to experience the vibrant cities of Bristol and Bath, and the host of iconic tourist attractions and beautiful coastline we have in the region. We look forward to developing our close partnership with Brussels Airlines further in the future.

Brussels Airlines now connects five cities in the UK with Brussels, the capital of Europe. Next to Bristol, the airline’s network also includes Birmingham, Edinburgh, London and Manchester.

Next to its creative and media industry, Bristol is famous for its expertise in aerospace, with a large Airbus facility in Filton, close to the city. Therefore, the reopened route between Bristol and Brussels also offers a connection between Bristol’s Airbus facility and those of Toulouse and Hamburg. The relaunch of the Bristol route responds to the demand in the region and the need to operate a service between these two key cities.

 

The connection between Bristol Airport and Brussels Airport is not entirely new, as wetlease partner flybmi used to operate this route for Brussels Airlines until February this year.

Makes it sound a relatively new route. In fact, it's been operating since the previous century without a break except for the past few months after flybmi's closure.

In the 1990s Sabena used to operate the route and when they went out of business the Phoenix-like SN Brussels (later re-styled Brussels Airlines after a tie-up with Virgin Express) stepped in. At one time there were four ARJ85 return flights a day. Around the end of the first decade of this century Flybe took over the route for Brussels Airlines with Q400s painted in the Belgian airline's livery. They were later replaced by bmi regional (later called flybmi), at first flying for Brussels Airlines under their SN flight codes then latterly as a code share under BM flight numbers.

There will be fewer daily flights than with flybmi but more seats thanks to the larger CityJet aircraft that will operate the route for Brussels Airlines.

 

Between the Sabena and SN Brussels flights BA connect, or whatever they were called at the time, at least partially filled the gap by adding a Bristol stop each way with their J41s from Cardiff. It was so long ago that I cannot remember dates operated or frequencies

 

Between the Sabena and SN Brussels flights BA connect, or whatever they were called at the time, at least partially filled the gap by adding a Bristol stop each way with their J41s from Cardiff. It was so long ago that I cannot remember dates operated or frequencies

Sabena collapsed in November 2001 and SN Brussels began operating in 2002.

SN Brussels was formed from Delta Air Transport (DAT) a Sabena subsidiary. It was DAT that operated the BRS Sabena flights in Sabena's lifetime. I can't remember a break in operations on the BRS route after Sabena collapsed but I bow to your knowledge.

There was a lot of switching and joining up in 2002. BA-owned Brymon Airways merged with British Regional Airlines (originally Manx Airlines Europe) also BA-owned by then to form BA Citiexpress in early 2002. Later that year BA regional operations at MAN and BHX plus CityFlyer Express were also absorbed into BA Citiexpress. BA renamed the airline BAConnect in 2006 but a year later sold it to Flybe.

Brymon operated the BA flights from BRS and British Regional from CWL before the two became part of BACitiexpress.

In 2002 BRS-BRU was Bae146/ARJ85-operated so a Jetstream would have been a big cut in capacity especially being shared with CWL.

 

I think Ba connect used a E145 flying Cwl-brs - bru for a short while until DAT returned. Also I remember aer lingus using F50s prior to sabena starting its own service to Brussels

 

I think Ba connect used a E145 flying Cwl-brs - bru for a short while until DAT returned. Also I remember aer lingus using F50s prior to sabena starting its own service to Brussels

The airport used to issue various newspapers and magazines - Bristol Airport News (a 16-page newspaper) and the one I have is from 1993 and highlights amongst many other things the new terminal being planned; Airborne; Flying High (a 40-page glossy magazine); Your Airport which I think is now only available online.

I've had a look through them this evening and find that Sabena began the BRS-BRU route in 1990. In 1998 they switched from DH-8-300 aircraft to ARJ85s at 4 x daily in the week and 2 x daily at weekends.

I remember Aer Lingus operating to Brussels prior to Sabena beginning its own route. I think they operated DUB-BRS-BRU.