APRIL BUSIEST MONTH EVER FOR BRUSSELS AIRLINES
(Posted 11th May 2017)
April 2017 was the busiest April month ever on record for Brussels Airlines. In total the airline welcomed 837.646 passengers on board of its 7.130 flights. 693.166 passengers chose a European flight (more than 82%) and the other 144.480 passengers (more than 17%) flew from or to Africa, North-American, the Middle East or India.
Compared to April 2016, this is a spectacular passenger growth of 54.6 % , a comparison that is however made more difficult due to the reduced flight program in the aftermath of the March terrorist attacks of last year on Brussels Airport.
The April 2017 record passenger numbers led to an increased seat load factor which reached almost 81 %.
The new Mumbai connection, launched at the end of March, already attracted nearly 8,000 passengers in April, a month during which the Portuguese island Madeira was added to the growing European network. This weekly flight had an encouraging start as well.
The transported freight volume also tended to increase. 162.191 Revenue Ton Kilometres (RTK) were realised. This is an increase of 49.6 % whereas the Available Ton Kilometres only grew with 22 %.
In addition to its scheduled flight activity, Brussels Airlines operates many holiday and group flights for tour operators. Passenger figures for this activity are not included in the figures of this press release.
| Month | Month | VLY difference in % | |
| apr-17 | apr-16 | ||
| Flights | 7,130 | 5,658 | 26.0% |
| Total Passengers | 837,646 | 541,687 | 54.6% |
| — Passengers Europe | 693,166 | 442,712 | 56.6% |
| — Passengers Africa | 82,525 | 61,661 | 33.8% |
| — Passengers North America | 35,456 | 24,697 | 43.6% |
| — Passengers Middle East | 18,583 | 12,617 | 47.3% |
| — Passengers Asia | 7,916 | / | / |
| Available seat-kilometers (ASK) | 1,732,103,375 | 1,412,320,059 | 22.6% |
| Revenue Passenger-Kilometers (RPK) | 1,403,686,142 | 938,871,990 | 49.5% |
| Passenger Load Factor (%) | 81.0% | 66.5% | 14.6%pt |
| Available Ton-Kilometers (ATK) | 207,090 | 169,760 | 22.0% |
| Revenue Ton-Kilometers (RTK) | 162,192 | 108,442 | 49.6% |
| Cargo Load Factor (%) | 63.8% | 48.0% | 15.8%pt |
| Figures based on preliminary figures currently available. | |||
Brussels Airlines, member of Lufthansa Group and a Star Alliance member, is the Belgian airline that offers the widest choice of flights to and from the capital of Europe, Brussels Airport. The company has more than 3.500 employees and 51 aircraft operating some 300 flights daily, connecting the European capital to over 100 European and African destinations in addition to their North America flights to New York JFK, Washington D.C. and Toronto. Since late March does Brussels Airlines also operate 5 weekly flights to Mumbai, India.
On its extensive European route network does Brussels Airlines offers the choice between Bizz&Class, Flex&Fast, Light&Relax and Check&Go to suit all market segments as are as fares are concerned.
In Eastern Africa does Brussels Airlines serve Entebbe five times a week, while flying six times a week to Kigali, once in conjunction with Bujumbura.
