Brussels Airlines Updates Fleet With Airbus A330s & $110 Million Cabin Interiors Program

Brussels Airlines
has today announced that it will be undertaking a significant investment into its long-haul fleet, both in terms of aircraft numbers and equally in its cabin product. The Lufthansa
Group carrier is planning to add three Airbus A330 aircraft to its fleet over the next few years while also refurbishing its economy, premium economy, and business class cabins. It also revealed that it would be partnering with airBaltic to ensure seasonal wet-leased Airbus A220
capacity as of next summer.

The agreement follows recent successes and, in particular, the return to profitability. Brussels Airlines published an adjusted EBIT of €53 million ($59 million) in 2023, its first profit in five years. With profitability comes the possibility for growth, which the carrier is pursuing on three fronts: medium-haul, long-haul, and cabin offering.

Brussels Airlines

IATA/ICAO Code

SN/BEL

Year Founded

2006

CEO

Dorothea von Boxberg

Expand

More A330s

At a press conference on Friday morning, Brussels Airlines revealed that its fleet would rise to 13 planes “in the coming years.” The A330s, which will be used examples, will allow the airline to expand its Africa network. Take a look at the airline’s long-haul network planned for winter 2024/2025, below.

Photo: GCMap.com

These aircraft will not necessarily be used on flights to the United States or Canada. Currently, Brussels Airlines serves Washington Dulles International Airport
(seasonally) and New York JFK Airport
. When asked whether these planes would be deployed in order to make Washington a year-round service, CEO Dorothea Von Boxberg told us:

“No, we don’t have plans to have it year round. That we don’t have as a plan. It’s really a very different demand between summer and winter.”

The new planes will instead be used for flights to Africa, ensuring more direct routes. Currently, Brussels Airlines’ network has a number of triangular-style flights in Africa, meaning the planes stop at various destinations before returning to the hub in Belgium. It cites “growing populations and economies” in Africa as part of the reason for which demand for air travel is rising. Chairman of the Board of Directors of SN Airholding said:

“The demand for flights to and from Sub-Saharan Africa is developing at a fast pace and it is crucial for Lufthansa Group to grow its footprint in the region. Brussels Airlines is the perfect airline to do just that as its expertise and presence on the continent is unparalleled. This is unique and makes us confident about the success of this expansion project.”

250 new employees will be needed to facilitate the expansion, ranging from “pilots to cabin crew, maintenance & engineering colleagues, airport and office staff.”

The existing A330 fleet

The existing long-haul fleet includes ten A330-300s, with an average age of 16.7 years according to ch-aviation data. All of the planes are second-hand from Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific or Lufthansa. Further details about the current fleet can be found below.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Cabin refurbishments

The Belgian flag carrier has also unveiled plans to refurbish its entire cabin on the Airbus A330, with details to be announced at a later stage. The renewal will cover all three of its classes, including business, premium economy and economy. It is to cost €100 million ($110 million). Von Boxberg noted that this investment is fairly significant, given that it represents double what the airline had made in profits in 2023. She continued:

“Brussels Airlines is further embarking on its profitable growth path and we continue putting Africa at the heart of our long-haul strategy. The multi-million investment in cabin interior allows us to offer our customers an even more premium experience. This is a moment of pride for everyone at Brussels Airlines. I’m also already looking forward to welcoming the new colleagues who will join us to enable our growth. It’s with great pleasure that we will offer more connections to our increasing number of passengers on our growing network.”

A220 wet-lease and possible A319 retirement

Brussels Airlines is also following in the footsteps of parent company, Lufthansa. It has signed a wet-lease agreement with airBaltic
for four Airbus A220 aircraft to provide additional capacity during the summer season. It noted that the planes would be used on “regional routes and routes with lower demand.” Von Boxberg said, for example, that the A220s would not be deployed on flights to busy destinations like Malaga, Spain.

“So it’s more for the city routes where demand in summer sometimes is lower, and where these smaller aircraft really make sense for us.”

With 148 seats, the A220 is somewhat comparable to the A319. Brussels Airlines operates the latter with a capacity for 141 people. When asked about possible European-haul network expansion, Von Boxberg said:

“So having four more aircraft is a good opportunity for us to really look into the network. But also there, most of the capacity will go into flying more frequencies on destinations that we have, because there’s a number of destinations that we feel we underserved by not flying dense enough network.”

Photo: Brussels Airlines

She also revealed that Brussels Airlines “would go beyond the four [airBaltic] aircraft in the future” with a tentative view of continuing the agreement for summer seasons to come after 2025. Is this the end of the A319, therefore? She told Simple Flying the following in response to our question:

“Well, that is actually one of the open questions for our fleet strategy, because the A319s come to an end over time, so they won’t fly forever anymore. So the question is, how do we follow up on that? With which aircraft? How will it exactly work? These are indeed the questions.

So right now, we are replacing some of the A319s in our fleet with A320s so we upgage. Indeed, air Baltic will take over some of the A319 routes instead. Yes, so that is one of the decisions we still need to take how exactly we follow up on the A319s.”

Ch-aviation data shows that Brussels Airlines has a total of 15 A319 aircraft, with an average age of 19.5 years. this is the oldest aircraft variant it has in its fleet. The average ages for the other groups are listed below.

• A320-200s: 18.3 years
• A330-300s: 16.7 years
• A320neos: 0.6 years