Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines (stylised as brussels airlines) is the flag carrier[2] and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America, Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew training. It is a member of the Star Alliance as well as the International Air Transport Association. The airline's IATA code SN is inherited from its predecessors, Sabena and SN Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group. The company slogan is We go the extra smile.

Brussels Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
SN[1] BEL BEE-LINE
Founded7 November 2006
Commenced operations25 March 2007
HubsBrussels Airport
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
AllianceStar Alliance
Fleet size52
Destinations100
Parent companyLufthansa Group
HeadquartersBrussels Airport
Diegem, Machelen, Belgium
Key people

Dieter Vranckx, CEO & CCO

Employees4000
Websitebrusselsairlines.com

History

Early years (2005-2009)
A former Brussels Airlines Avro RJ85 painted in the SN Brussels Airlines livery

Brussels Airlines was created following the merger of SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) and Virgin Express, the former subsequently created after the bankruptcy of Belgium's previous national carrier Sabena. On 12 April 2005, SN Airholding, the company behind SNBA, signed an agreement with Richard Branson, giving it control over Virgin Express. On 31 March 2006 SNBA and Virgin Express announced their merger into a single company. On 7 November 2006, the new name, Brussels Airlines, was announced at a press conference at Brussels Airport. Brussels Airlines began operations on 25 March 2007. Sometime between this period, the airline was forced to change its 13-dot logo to a 14-dot logo due to superstitious passengers complaining about the logo.

On 15 September 2008, it was announced that Lufthansa would acquire a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines with an option to acquire the remaining 55% from 2011. As a part of this deal, Brussels Airlines would join Star Alliance.[3][4] From 26 October 2008, the ICAO code was changed from DAT to BEL.

On 15 June 2009, Brussels Airlines announced that the European Commission had granted approval for Lufthansa to take a minority share in Brussels Airlines. As a result of this clearance by the EU, Brussels Airlines was able to join Star Alliance.[5] Lufthansa purchased 45% of the company in 2009, and acquired the remainder in January 2017.[6][7]

Since 25 October 2009, Brussels Airlines has been a member of Lufthansa's frequent flyer programme Miles & More. On 9 December 2009, Brussels Airlines became the 26th Star Alliance member during a ceremony at Brussels Town Hall.

On 15 December 2009, Brussels Airlines announced it was working on a new regional airline in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name of the airline was Korongo. The main base of the airline was at Lubumbashi in Congo. The airline was launched in April 2012 and shut down in 2015. Brussels Airlines cancelled the airDC project, due to disagreements with Hewa Bora.

Development since 2010
A Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 in an interim livery

On 5 July 2010, a fifth Airbus A330-300 entered into service. Brussels Airlines increased its frequency to Abidjan (up to 6 weekly) and added Accra, Cotonou, Ouagadougou, and Lomé as new destinations. On 11 August 2010, Brussels Airlines and tour operator Club Med announced new cooperation. As from April 2011, Brussels Airlines will transport 80% of all Club Med passengers out of Brussels, both on existing regular Brussels Airlines routes as on new charter routes operated by Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines also announced that it will lease 2 Airbus A320 aircraft from January 2011.[8]

On 26 August 2010, the company announced its new maintenance project. The contract with Sabena Technics for the A330 and Boeing 737 ended on 1 January 2011 and Brussels Airlines will then do the maintenance on the planes. To be able to do this, the move from Building 117 to Hangar 41 was necessary. Also, 73 people from Sabena Technics joined the Brussels Airlines maintenance staff.

On 1 June 2012[9] Brussels Airlines inaugurated the route to New York JFK, operating daily with an Airbus A330-300 fitted with the new interior. This is the first Belgian airline in 10 years to fly to New York, after the collapse of Sabena and Delsey Airlines. Since 18 June 2013 they also fly 5 times a week to Washington Dulles.[10] Since April 2016 Toronto Pearson has been added to the North-American network.[11] It has been announced that as from March 2017 a new service to Mumbai will commence with 5 flights per week operated by a new Airbus A330-200 arriving early 2017.

On 30 January 2014, Brussels Airlines added 9 seasonal destinations and returned to the Polish market after some years of absence. It also confirmed the permanent exit of its Avro RJ100 fleet by 2016.[12]

In April 2015, Brussels Airlines has been praised by the White House for continuing its normal flying operation to Western African countries during the Ebola outbrake, allowing essential aid to be delivered.[13][14] All other airline companies, except Royal Air Maroc, suspended their flights to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.[15]

On 22 March 2016, members of the terrorist organization ISIL detonated two bombs in Brussels Airport, closing the airport until Sunday, 27 March 2016. Brussels Airlines shifted some long haul flights to Zurich and Frankfurt and began Airbus A319/Avro RJ100 shuttle service between Liege/Antwerp and Zurich/Frankfurt, as well as providing contracted bus service from Brussels to Antwerp and Liege from where it served European destinations.[16]

On 28 September 2016, the Supervisory Board of Lufthansa announced that the airline would exercise the option to acquire the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines' parent company SN Airholding. The modalities would be defined before the end of the year to conclude the transaction at the beginning of 2017.[17]

In March 2017, Thomas Cook announced its intention to sell its Belgian flight operations. Brussels Airlines' parent company. Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium was shut down by November 2017 with two aircraft and all traffic rights being integrated by Brussels Airlines.[18][19] Brussels Airlines took over the 160 Thomas Cook Airlines crew members.

In February 2018 CEO Bernard Gustin and financial director Jan De Raeymaeker resigned after a meeting with the Lufthansa board over the future of the airline. Gustin was replaced by Christina Foerster on 1 April 2018. On 1 May 2018, Dieter Vranckx joined the company as CFO.

In December 2019, it was announced that Dieter Vranckx will replace Christina Foerster as CEO of Brussels Airlines effective January 1, 2020.[20][21]

During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Brussels Airlines suspended all flights from March 21 through April 19.[22] Additionally, Brussels Airlines cancelled its wetlease contract with CityJet, leading to the termination of eight European destinations in the wake of the pandemic.[23]

Corporate affairs

Ownership and structure

Brussels Airlines is the operating name of Brussels Airlines SA/NV (previously Delta Air Transport SA/NV)[24] which has its registered office in Elsene-Ixelles, Brussels.[25]

Brussels Airlines is almost 100% owned by SN Airholding SA/NV (1,811,308 shares out of 1,811,309), a Belgian holding company. Lufthansa owns 100% of SN Airholding SA/NV, having taken control of the remaining shares it did not own effective January 2017.[26]

Dieter Vranckx has been the CEO since 1 January 2020. The Executive Committee consists of Dieter Vranckx (CEO & CCO) and Edi Wolfensberger (COO). Dieter Vranckx was previously the CFO of the company. A new CFO has yet to be appointed.

Brussels Airlines aircraft lined up at Brussels Airport

Limited information appears to be published. However, accounts for all Belgian companies must be filed with the National Bank of Belgium. Information available since 2007 (the first year of operations as Brussels Airlines) appears to be as follows (for years ending 31 December):

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Revenue (€m) 925 1,011 849 930 1,036 1,113 1,138 1,224 1,330 1,271 1,326 1,500 1,600
Net profits/losses (€m) 25.6 −6.8 −40 5 −80 −61 −22 −4.2 41.3 15 3.57 12.8 −40.6
Number of employees (average) 3,000 2,418 2,479 2,393 2,395 2,427 2,480 3,400 3,512
Number of passengers (scheduled) (m) 5.85 5.46 4.67 4.89 5.69 5.76 5.88 6.60 7.50 7.70 9.10 10.03 10.20
Passenger load factor (%) 66.5 68.7 69.2 72.0 74.4 74.9 78.5 81.0 81.0
Number of aircraft 47 49 50 53 52
Notes/sources [27] [28][29] [28][29] [28][30] [30][31] [32][33]
[34]		 [35] [36][37] [38]

Head office
b.house, Brussels Airlines' head office, located on the grounds of Brussels Airport

The company is headquartered in the b.house (Building 26) in the General Aviation Zone on the grounds of Brussels Airport and in Diegem, Machelen, Flemish Brabant.[39][40][41]

Destinations
Main article: List of Brussels Airlines destinations

Alliances

Brussels Airlines is a member of Star Alliance.[42]

Codeshare agreements

Brussels Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[43]

In October 2019, Brussels Airlines and Africa World Airlines announced an interline agreement to better connect passengers traveling through their respective hubs in Accra and Brussels.[45][46]

In December 2019, Brussels Airlines and Aeroflot Russian Airlines announced a code-share agreement in effect January 20, 2020 between Moscow-Sheremetyevo and Brussels.[47][48][49]

Fleet
Brussels Airlines Airbus A319-100 painted in Star Alliance livery
Brussels Airlines Airbus A320-200
Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300

Current fleet

As of July 2020, Brussels Airlines operates an all-Airbus fleet, composed of the following registered aircraft:[50]

Brussels Airlines fleet

Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
B E+ E Total
Airbus A319-100 22 — — — 141 141 1 aircraft painted in the Star Alliance livery.
Airbus A320-200 16 — — — 180 180 6 aircraft painted in Belgian Icons special liveries.
Airbus A330-200 2 — 22 — 242 264 To be replaced by Airbus A330-300s from 2020 to 2022.[51]
Airbus A330-300 8 — 30 21 244 295[52]
4 — 30 28 225 283
Total 52

Fleet development

Brussels Airlines previously operated six British Aerospace 146s which were withdrawn in 2008.

During 2010, two Airbus A319-100s joined Brussels Airlines' fleet. The first Airbus A320-200 joined the fleet in February 2011 and made its first commercial flight on 23 April 2011. With improving financial performance, rising cash reserves and a desire to reduce costs more rapidly, Brussels Airlines accelerated its fleet replacement plan by ordering 12 aircraft in August 2011. Six A319s, four A320s and two A330-200s were added to the fleet. This has completed the exit of Boeing aircraft from the fleet and accelerated the replacement of the Avro RJ85.

Starting 2016, Brussels Airlines began phasing out its Avro RJ100s and replaced them with the Airbus A320 family and wet-leased Sukhoi Superjets. This was completed by the end of 2017.[53] However, Brussels Airlines announced in July 2018 it would terminate the Superjet wet-lease contracts earlier than planned. This is due to the longer downtimes of the aircraft in case of repairs compared to more common and less new types.[54] The Superjets have been phased out by January 2019.

Aircraftbefore merger200720082009201120122013201420152016201720182019
Avro RJ8514141414111
Avro RJ100121212121212121312117
BAe 146-200664
Airbus A319-100334491414141820212222
Airbus A320-20025567991317
Airbus A330-20023333443
Airbus A330-3003344555556688+4
Airbus A340-30021
Boeing 737-3005 (Virgin Express)555411
Boeing 737-4005 (Virgin Express)5564

Special liveries

Brussels Airlines launched a series of Belgian Icon special liveries on its Airbus A320 fleet, all representing things that are typically Belgian: Rackham (a Tintin themed aircraft), Magritte (an ode to the famous surrealist artist René Magritte), Trident (the aircraft for the Belgian national football team) and Amare (Tomorrowland Festival theme). On 24 March 2018 the airline introduced an additional aircraft themed to The Smurfs.[55][56] In spring 2019 an additional aircraft was dedicated to the famous Flemish painter Bruegel.

Services

Frequent-flyer programmes

Brussels Airlines uses Miles & More, Lufthansa's frequent flyer programme. Miles can be earned on flights operated by airlines which are part of the programme, in addition to flights operated by Star Alliance airlines.[57] Miles can also be earned with Brussels Airlines' non-airline partners.[58]

Brussels Airlines customers have been able to earn Miles & More benefits since 25 October 2009,[59] when Brussels Airlines' previous frequent flyer programme, Privilege, ended. There was a conversion of Privilege Gold members into Miles & More Frequent Travellers, while Privilege Platinum card holders became Miles & More Senators. Privilege miles were converted on a 1 to 1 basis.

On 19 October 2015 Brussels Airlines launched a new customer programme called LOOP, which is available for all flights in the airline's network. LOOP is designed for the increasing number of customers who fly Brussels Airlines regularly and do not receive significant benefits from traditional frequent flyer programmes. The LOOP programme was discontinued on February 1, 2020.

In-flight entertainment

Brussels Airlines has two inflight magazines. For the European network, there is b-there! which is a monthly magazine. On the African network, the magazine is named B Spirit Magazine[60] and is published every two months. Both magazines are available on board or as a PDF download through their respective websites. The magazines are also available as a freely downloadable application for Apple's iPad.[61]

From November 2011 until the end of 2012 Brussels Airlines introduced a new interior on the A330 fleet. The new economy seats feature AVOD personal in-flight entertainment 9 inch screens. Also business class got new lie-flat seats with an improved AVOD IFE system with 15 inch screens, supplied by the IMS-Company and known as "RAVE".

Tariff structure

On European flights, the airline offers four types of tickets:

  • Check&Go is a low-cost fare, without checked-in luggage and with a buy on board programme offering snacks and drinks for purchase.
  • Light&Relax is a regular economy class with a buy on board programme offering snacks and drinks for purchase.
  • Flex&Fast is an economy plus class with a buy on board programme offering snacks and drinks for purchase, fast lane at security, change flexibility and priority boarding.
  • Bizz&Class is a full-service business class on the European network. It offers premium meals, free champagne and full flexibility.

On medium-haul and long-haul flights (to Africa and North America), Brussels Airlines offers Economy Light, Regular Economy, Economy Privilege and Business classes.

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See also

References
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  2. Dron, Alan (12 January 2017). "Brussels Airlines to wet-lease Superjets". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017.
  3. Official press release by Lufthansa Archived 18 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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  5. "Corporate website | Brussels Airlines". brusselsairlines.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
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  7. Hofmann, Kurt (15 December 2016). "Lufthansa acquires Brussels Airlines, to become part of Eurowings Group". atwonline.com. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
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