Brussels Airlines To Grow European Operations By 10%

Credit: Joe Pries

Brussels Airlines will add four more aircraft during the northern summer 2023 season as it prepares to increase operations in Europe by 10% and add six routes.

The aircraft include two Airbus A320s permanently joining the fleet, to be deployed across the carrier’s medium-haul network. The Lufthansa-owned airline will also wet lease two CRJs from CityJet, which will be used to operate to secondary markets.

Brussels Airlines has already confirmed plans to take delivery of three new A320neos in 2023 and its board has now approved the phase in of two A320neos in 2024, replacing older A319s.

Alongside the fleet changes, the carrier intends to grow its European network from next March and fly to six more destinations from Brussels (BRU) in 2023, as well as increasing frequencies on several more routes.

OAG data and Brussels Airlines’ booking system shows that nonstop flights to Billund (BLL) in Denmark will start on March 26 having been suspended since March 2020. Flights will be 6X-weekly using CRJs.

Djerba (DJE) and Monastir (MIR) in Tunisia will return on April 1, each operating once a week with A320s. The carrier last served DJE in September 2019 and MIR in April 2019. Flights to Warsaw (WAW) in Poland will resume on June 1 after a hiatus of more than three years, operating 12X-weekly using A319s.

Finally, Brindisi (BDS) in Italy and Zurich (ZRH) in Switzerland are new destinations for Brussels Airlines. BDS will be 2X-weekly from April 29 with A319s and A320s and ZRH will be 5X-weekly from March 27 with A319s.

In addition, the carrier said frequencies during summer 2023 will be increased on routes to Berlin, Bordeaux, Chania, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Goteborg, Hamburg, Kos, Las Palmas, Lyon, Madrid, Munich, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife.

To facilitate the expansion, the company intends to hire more than 200 staff in 2023, including 20 pilots and 90 cabin crew.

Brussels Airlines has a fleet of 38 aircraft in service, CAPA Fleet Database shows, comprising 15 A319s, 15 A320s, and eight A330-300s.

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.