Brussels Airlines plans to restore its long-haul fleet to its pre-pandemic size with the addition of a 10th Airbus A330-300.
The Belgian flag carrier said Sept. 12 that the new aircraft will come from within the Lufthansa Group, of which it is a member, and will allow the company to expand its already extensive African network.
The aircraft, which will start operations during the summer 2024 timetable, will have a three-class, 283-seat configuration—30 business, 28 premium economy and 225 economy.
Brussels Airlines says that its operations in sub-Saharan Africa make the continent its most important market. The extra capacity provided by the latest aircraft will allow it to reopen the Brussels-Nairobi, Kenya, route and to grow its Brussels-Kigali, Rwanda, sector to a daily service. The reopening of Nairobi will bring the company’s destinations in sub-Saharan Africa to 18.
Nairobi was last served by Brussels Airlines in October 2015. At the time, the carrier operated two routings: Brussels—Kigali—Nairobi—Brussels (2X-weekly) and Brussels—Bujumbura, Burundi—Nairobi—Brussels (3X-weekly). Both routes were operated by A330-200s.
TUIfly Belgium offered a Brussels—Zanzibar, Tanzania—Mombasa, Kenya—Brussels route in winter 2018-19 and winter 2019-20, but other than that, the Belgium-Kenya market has been unserved.
The new aircraft will operate six days a week to the Kenyan capital during the summer schedule. In winter, the route will be flown 4X-weekly. During the winter, an extra direct flight to Dakar, Senegal, and an extra rotation to Banjul, the Gambia/Conakry, Guinea and Monrovia, Liberia/Freetown, Sierra Leone, will be added to the schedule.
“With the addition of Nairobi to our network, daily frequencies to Kigali and extra flights to West Africa, we offer more choice to our passengers traveling to and from Africa than ever,” Brussels Airlines CEO Dorothea von Boxberg said. “The 10th intercontinental aircraft is a clear sign of Lufthansa Group’s trust in Brussels Airlines and strengthens our role as the hub to Africa for the group.”
“Kenya remains a focus market for Lufthansa Group in East Africa, largely driven by the significant increase in demand and resurgence in travel, coupled with the immense support of the local community within the region,” Lufthansa Group’s GM, East Africa, Kevin Markette added. “With the addition of the six weekly Brussels Airlines’ flights to Nairobi, Lufthansa Group will offer 18 weekly connections to Kenya in summer 2024, including daily Lufthansa flights to the capital and five weekly direct Discover Airlines flights to Mombasa.”
With its extensive African network, Brussels Airlines was affected by the recent closure of airspace over several African nations following coups against governments there.
“We were indeed impacted by the closure of Niger airspace, which amongst others resulted in longer flight times [between 1 hr. and 3 hr. extra] to 12 of our 17 sub-Saharan African destinations,” a Brussels Airlines spokeswoman said. The situation had eased somewhat with the reopening of Niger’s airspace on Sept. 4.
