(Posted 20th May 2024)
Environmental noise restrictions at the airline’s main hub at Brussels Airport are the likely reason that Brussels Airlines will not seek to buy, or lease, the Airbus A330Neo, while presently operating 10 Airbus A330-300 for their long haul flights to Africa and North America. The A330Neo’s noise footprint on landing appears to be the main obstacle after Brussels Airport and the Belgian government tightened the operating parameters for night flights.
Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO of Brussels Airlines, is being quoted as having said that, given the airline operates an all Airbus fleet, a future order of new wide body long haul aircraft was leaning towards the Airbus A350 – the class leader in long haul twin engine jets.
She also hinted that future orders for short and medium haul aircraft were likely to focus on the Airbus A321, the largest member of the A320 family.
Both the A350 and the A321 will meet longer term environmental demands for Brussels Airport, where stricter noise restrictions for operations at night will come into effect in 2026, tighter yet again in 2028 and yet stiffer as of 2030.
Brussels Airlines, as of next month, has added Nairobi back to their list of East Africn destinations, initially serving the Kenyan capital 6 times a week. This ends a much decried hiatus prompted by a Lufthansa decision – after the German airline group acquired 100 percent of Brussels Airlines – to swap Nairobi with Accra for Brussels Airlines to allow for LH flights to return to Kenya also after a lengthy absence from the route.
Entebbe / Uganda will remain on daily flights, as of June followed by Kigali / Rwanda, which makes Brussels Airlines the only European carrier serving Rwanda’s capital on a daily basis.
Flights to Entebbe will route 5 times a week via Kigali and twice a week via Bujumbura / Burundi.
All the East African destinations are served by A330-300 aircraft with a three class cabin layout of Business, Premium Economy and Economy classes.
