Summary
- Brussels Airlines resumed its flights to Nairobi after last serving the Kenyan capital in 2015.
- It has six weekly departures, one more than nine years ago.
- Connections will be vital, especially from the UK and North America.
Carriers of the same airline group often make collective network decisions based on relative strengths and more, and the Lufthansa Group is no exception. Brussels Airlines stopped flying to Nairobi in 2015 following Lufthansa’s decision to serve the Kenyan capital from Frankfurt. After nine years, Brussels Airlines is finally back, and it will coexist with Lufthansa from Germany.
Nairobi brings Brussels Airlines’ African network to 24, although that is not a record. The network can be split into two. Six destinations are in North Africa and use Brussels Airlines’ Airbus A320s, and 18 are in sub-Saharan Africa, the article’s main focus, and use Brussels Airlines’ A330-300s. The widebodies are not just for range or passenger capacity but also for freight.
Brussels Airlines to Nairobi
The carrier’s sub-Saharan network is mainly based on Francophone Africa and former Belgian colonies. However, it also serves various Anglophone areas of the vast continent, with vital connections from its Brussels hub to the UK and North America.
Along with Accra, Bangul, Entebbe, Monrovia, and Freetown, Nairobi falls into the Anglophone camp. The absence of Lagos and Johannesburg, the latter now unserved by Air Belgium, sticks out like sore thumbs, but Lufthansa probably keeps out Brussels Airlines.
In addition to the diaspora, Brussels Airlines will also benefit from strong inbound tourism to Kenya. Freight, including fresh produce from Kenya, will be considerable. Booking data shows that Nairobi was Belgium’s third-largest unserved sub-Saharan market in 2019 based on point-to-point demand, although it was not particularly large.
Image: OAG
More flights than last time
Relaunched on June 3, the day I wrote this article, the Kenyan capital is served six times weekly, one more departure than when it last operated in 2015. In sub-Saharan Africa, Abidjan, Dakar, Douala, Entebbe, Kigali, Kinshasa, and Yaoundé are served daily, more than Nairobi. At the same time, Accra and Lomé are six weekly, the same as the Kenyan capital.
Photo: Brussels Airlines
As is often the case in Africa, one-stop flights exist. Two weekly services operate triangularly with Kigali (Brussels-Kigali-Nairobi-Brussels); this means the Rwandan capital sees Brussels Airlines daily. The remaining four weekly Kenya are terminator services and non-stop in both directions. The schedule is as follows, with all times local.
- Brussels to Nairobi: 10:20-19:35 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat); 10:20-22:30 via Kigali (Wed, Sun)
- Nairobi to Brussels: 22:30-06:45+1 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat); 23:40-07:55+1 (Wed, Sun)
Image: OAG
Where its passengers go
The above hub structure shows that Brussels Airlines’ sub-Saharan African network is built for connectivity, without which it would, of course, be far smaller. That’s no different from any other hub carrier.
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Booking data suggests that the carrier and fellow Star Alliance members United and Air Canada had well over 500,000 sub-Saharan passengers who transited in Brussels last year. The top 10 origins and destinations were as follows. Surely it won’t be long until London Heathrow-Nairobi appears on the list.
- Paris CDG-Kinshasa via Brussels
- Paris CDG-Douala
- Paris CDG-Abidjan
- Paris CDG-Dakar
- Paris CDG-Yaoundé
- London Heathrow-Freetown
- London Heathrow-Entebbe
- London Heathrow-Accra
- Geneva-Dakar
- Paris CDG-Ouagadougou
Have you flown Brussels Airlines to/from Africa? Let us know your experiences in the comments section.