Brussels Airlines’ Small But Mighty Transatlantic Network

While Brussels Airlines has positioned itself as the expert in connecting Europe and Africa within the Lufthansa Group, the airline also operates a substantial number of flights to the United States. After all, with Brussels being the diplomatic capital of Europe and, by extension, the European Union (EU), there are plenty of diplomats shuffling in and out of the Belgian capital for policy-related matters.

The Brussels Airport (BRU)-based carrier has an all-Airbus fleet to operate its flights, including long-haul itineraries to destinations in the US and other countries and/or continents. Per ch-aviation data, Brussels Airlines’ fleet is currently composed of the following types:

Flights to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

As the headline says, Brussels Airlines definitely has a small transatlantic network: it only operates flights to two destinations across the Atlantic Ocean, one of them being New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

The Lufthansa Group-owned carrier has scheduled seven weekly flights between BRU and JFK in June 2024. Throughout the year, it has not had more than a daily flight from BRU to JFK, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium.

Photo: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock

Brussels Airlines operates its flights from BRU to JFK with the Airbus A330-300. As a result, with the airline equipping its A330s with either 283 or 295 seats, the carrier’s weekly seats on the BRU-JFK route range between 1,156 (January 2024) and 2,039 (April 2024).

In 2025, the de facto flag carrier of Belgium plans to increase its capacity on the route. While data is so far available only up to May 2025, in January, February, and March, the airline has scheduled five weekly frequencies. In April and May, Brussels Airlines is planning seven weekly flights.

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Seasonal flights to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

Another destination in the US is Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). However, Cirium data showed that Brussels Airlines serves as the policymaking capital of the US on a seasonal basis only. All flights are being operated by the Airbus A330-300 as well.

Photo: pim pic | Shutterstock

In April and May 2025, the airline plans to increase its weekly flights between BRU and IAD to five. Thus, the Belgian airline will have 1,475 weekly seats in August and September 2024, as well as the two former months in 2025. In April and May 2024, Brussels Airlines had only 885 and 873 weekly seats, respectively, while in June, the weekly seats went up to 1,462. July is the highest capacity month on the route for Brussels Airlines since the airline plans to deploy 1,770 seats from BRU to IAD.

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Brussels Airport connectivity

However, while Brussels Airlines operates to only two points across the Atlantic Ocean, other airlines, including those that are part of Star Alliance, which Brussels Airlines is also part of, BRU has plenty of flights to various destinations in the US and Canada.

In total, there are 51 weekly departures from BRU to Cancún International Airport (CUN), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), IAD, JFK, Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in June. The number excludes the 12 weekly flights that are operated by Brussels Airlines.

Photo: Miguel Lagoa | Shutterstock

Nevertheless, seasonality is a significant factor at BRU: while in June, there are 63 weekly departures, by November, this number should drop to 42. However, barring the exclusion of flights to YYZ, CUN, IAD, JFK, ORD, and YUL should remain on BRU’s departures board during the upcoming winter season.

Looking at Star Alliance-only flights from BRU, the airline alliance dominates the US-bound network from the Belgian capital, with 51 out of 63 departures in June (80.9%) and 33 out of 42 departures (78.5%) in November.

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New aircraft and new frontiers

Could that change with Brussels Airlines adding other aircraft to its fleet, such as the Airbus A350 or the A321neo? While the former would probably be used for flights to Africa, considering the airline’s role within the group, the latter could help the airline open up routes where there is not enough demand for a widebody aircraft.

According to the Great Circle Mapper, the great circle distance between BRU and JFK is 3,186 nautical miles (5,901 kilometers), while the advertised range of the A320neo and A321neo is 6,300 km (3,400 NMI) and 7,400 km (4,000 NMI), respectively.

While that range is plenty to even – theoretically – allow Brussels Airlines to operate the BRU to JFK route with an Airbus A320neo, the airline also has to serve intra-European flights. After all, Brussels is the home of many EU institutions.

Nevertheless, another limitation could be the slot situation at BRU. While the airport still has 19,464 fewer flights in 2024 compared to 2019, the Belgium Slot Coordination’s data showed that the 60-minute capacity during different time segments at the airport has not changed since 2018, meaning that there could be capacity constraints as the airport continues recovering from the pandemic.

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