Brussels Airlines ranked amongst the most reliable major European airlines during a busy summer season

99% of the flights operated as scheduled, almost 3 out of 4 flights departed with less than 15 minutes delay so far this year

Brussels, September 4, 2024 – Brussels Airlines is looking back to a successful summer. Numerous efforts to ensure reliable operations have worked out well, ranking Brussels Airlines in the top 5 of most punctual major airlines in Europe. The Belgian national airline will keep investing together with its partners to improve reliability even further in the future.

During the summer months, July and August, Brussels Airlines transported more than 1.7 million passengers on almost 12,000 flights. As always, summer is the busiest season in the aviation industry. This year, Brussels Airlines is happy to announce improved regularity and punctuality numbers.

99% of all Brussels Airlines flights operated as scheduled during July and August. Some cancellations occurred, mainly due to external factors like the tensions in the Middle East that led to flight cancellations on the route to Tel Aviv.

72% of all flights departed within 15 minutes from the scheduled departure time so far this year. Amongst all major European airlines, Brussels Airlines is in the top 5 most punctual airlines so far in 2024 according to data from aviation analytics agency Cirium.

Flight delays were mainly caused by weather (e.g. thunderstorms), shortage of Air Traffic Control staff in some European countries and occasionally long lines at border control at Brussels Airport.

“At Brussels Airlines, we want to be the most reliable airline operating from the most reliable hub. We’ve taken numerous initiatives together with all our partners such as Brussels Airport and the Belgian federal police to improve our regularity and punctuality. I’m happy to see that our efforts paid off. There are still areas of improvement such as the further roll out of the electronic gates for passport control for flights to Sub Saharan Africa. This will lead to shorter waiting times at border control and thus less flights we have to delay while waiting for some passengers.”
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Tilman Reinshagen, Chief Operating Officer, Brussels Airlines

Not only did more flights leave as scheduled and on-time, Brussels Airlines and its partners also improved other parameters. The number of delayed luggage has dropped by 14% compared to last year. Less than 0.8% of all checked bags didn’t get to their destination on-time.

Many passengers transfer in Brussels, for example to one of the 18 sub-Saharan African destinations of Brussels Airlines. 96.6% of the transfer passengers made their connection, which is an improvement of 26% compared to last year.

Digital innovations to take care of passengers

Despite an already very high regularity, Brussels Airlines remains committed to continue decreasing the number of cancelled flights and taking care of passengers who are confronted with irregularities.

During summer, some digital innovations have been rolled out in the Brussels Airlines’ app, in order to better assist passengers at all stages of their journey, and certainly during irregularities.

Chatbot “Charlie” on brusselsairlines.com has been enhanced with new features, allowing the chatbot to assist guests better during irregularities. The easier people can find answers to their questions via these digital tools, the more customer care agents are available for more complicated cases, leading to shorter waiting times.

Brussels Airlines is also implementing a new system that automatically detects changes in flights and sends messages to guests. Soon, passengers will receive notifications for events such as gate changes, boarding times, and delayed baggage.

“When most people enjoy their well-deserved holidays, our employees go above and beyond to ensure our guests can fly worry-free. I would sincerely like to thank everyone in our teams for their efforts. Aviation is a very complex industry, and making so many flights leave on-time is a big accomplishment we can all be proud of.”
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Tilman Reinshagen, Chief Operating Officer, Brussels Airlines

 

Joëlle Neeb

Joëlle Neeb

For media requests only

 

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About Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines is the home carrier of Belgium and one of the four network airlines of the Lufthansa Group. It connects the European capital from Brussels Airport with over 90 destinations, 18 of which are in Sub Saharan Africa. The company employs more than 3,500 people and operates 44 aircraft.

Brussels Airlines aims to emit 50% less CO2 by 2030 compared to 2019 and plans to be carbon neutral by 2050. The airline is participating in the Stargate Project led by Brussels Airport and is therefore part of the testing ground for sustainable aviation at its home base. In addition, the airline signed the Circular Economy agreement of the Antwerp Management School in 2021. The airline was the first to transport Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) through the CEPS-pipeline connecting Brussels Airport early 2023. By end 2024, Brussels Airlines will have welcomed five state-of-the-art Airbus A320neo allowing the airline to significantly lower its CO2- and noise-emissions on its medium-haul network.

As an ambassador of its country, Brussels Airlines brings the world to Belgium and the best of Belgium to the world, among others through collaborations with Belgian Star Chefs, Belgian culinary products and the Belgian Icons, specially painted aircraft that honour a Belgian iconic person, team or event to promote Belgian culture worldwide.

More information on brusselsairlines.com 


About Star Alliance

Established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance, the Star Alliance network was founded on a customer value proposition of global reach, worldwide recognition, and seamless service. Since its inception, it has offered the largest and most comprehensive airline network, with a strong emphasis on enhancing the customer experience throughout the entire Alliance journey.

Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 17,500 daily flights to over 1,150 airports in almost 190 countries.

More information on staralliance.com

Contact

b.house Zone General Aviation - Airport Building 26 1831 Diegem

+32 2 723 89 90

press@brusselsairlines.com

www.brusselsairlines.com