Brussels Airlines starts summer with lots of novelties

Long Haul

In the course of the summer season a new long haul cabin, equipped with comfortable flat bed seats in Business Class, ergonomic Economy Class seats and a revolutionary in-flight entertainment system, will gradually be introduced on the Brussels Airlines intercontinental flights. 

United States
1 June 2012 will be a historic date for Brussels Airlines : from that date onwards the airline will fly daily to New York JFK.  The return of Belgian aviation to the USA after an absence of 10 years was warmly welcomed by the travel trade and by Brussels Airlines' customers. In the past weeks over 25.000 passengers have booked a ticket to the Big Apple. Numerous European destinations of Brussels Airlines will be smoothly connected with the new New York service through an easy transit in Brussels Airport. 

Africa
This summer Brussels Airlines increases its frequencies to many African destinations. This substantially enhances the flight offer and the flexibility for the passengers.
From April onwards Brussels Airlines will fly daily (instead of 4 times a week) to Abidjan (Ivory Coast). To Douala and Yaounde (Cameroon) 5 weekly flights (instead of respectively 3 and 2 flights) are offered. Also Nairobi (Kenya, 4 weekly flights) and Bujumbura (Burundi, 3 weekly flights) get an additional frequency per week. From 1 June till 28 September an additional weekly flight will be operated to Kigali (Rwanda, 5 times a week) and Entebbe (Uganda, 4 times a week).

There’s also good news for those travelling with Brussels Airlines to Kinshasa (D.R Congo) this summer. The airline increases its direct flights between Brussels Airport and the Congolese capital : 5 of the 7 weekly flights will then be non-stop with an arrival in the late afternoon. All return flights are direct. Thanks to Korongo Airlines, a new Congolese airline that works closely together with Brussels Airlines and operates according to European safety standards, the Brussels Airlines passengers will be able to combine an intercontinental Brussels-Kinshasa flight with a connecting domestic flight to Lubumbashi. These connections are possible as from 1st of May.
 

Short & Medium Haul

The European fleet renewal will continue throughout the summer. A couple of comfortable Airbus A 319/320 aircraft will enter the fleet to replace the older aircraft, equipped with seats that allow more legspace. In view of its care for the environment, Brussels Airlines uses on some destinations the efficient and economical Dash8 Q400 regional aircraft, allowing the airline to offer high frequencies to some regional destinations.

Europe
From  21 May onwards Brussels Airlines will offer 11 weekly flights between  Brussels Airport and the regional airport Europort Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg. On weekdays a morning and evening flight is planned. In weekends Brussels Airlines will operate a flight on Sunday evening. The Europort Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, located in the border area of Switzerland/France/Germany, is the gateway to a strong economic region. The new flight offer allows same-day returns and is adapted to the demand of business travellers.

The Hungarian capital Budapest gets a third daily frequency enabling passengers to fly in the morning, afternoon (new) and evening. Flights to many holiday destinations are being increased (Florence, Malaga, Faro, Nice, Barcelona, Lisbon, ...). For instance, in July and August Brussels Airlines will fly 3 times a day to Malaga.  Athens will be served once a day during the entire summer and even twice a day in July and August. Also Catania (Sicily) returns to the Brussels Airlines summer offer.

Moscow
Thanks to a capacity and frequency increase on the Brussels – Moscow Domodedovo route Brussels Airlines offers this summer 13 weekly flights between Brussels Airport and the Russian capital.

Tel Aviv
Due to the increased demand Brussels Airlines offers an 8th weekly flight to Tel Aviv during the entire summer. On top of the 7 existing evening and night flights Tel Aviv will now also be served every Sunday thanks to a new day flight. 
 

Good to know

During the summer season 98.723 flight hours are planned, an increase compared to the previous summer when 95.836 hours were flown.
This summer season Brussels Airlines will perform many holiday flights on behalf of tour operators, not only out of Brussels Airport but also out of many other European airports, a total of more than 2.500 flight hours.
 

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About Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines is the Belgian airline that offers the widest choice of flights to and from its base in Brussels Airport. The group has more than 3.300 employees and 49 aircraft that operate some 300 punctual flights daily, connecting the Capital of Europe to over 70 premium European and African airports and New York City (as from June 2012).
On its European routes, operated with AVRO, Boeing 737, and Airbus A319/A320, Brussels Airlines offers the choice of a premium service at a very high level (“b.business”), an ultra-flexible product, which offers time-saving and comfort at reasonable prices (“b.flex economy+”) and a low fare product (“b.light economy”). On medium- and long-haul flights, the airline operates traditional business or economy class. Long-haul flights are operated with Airbus A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft.
In addition to 21 destinations in Africa, Brussels Airlines and its intercontinental partners also offer long-haul service to the United Arab Emirates, China, Thailand, India and North America.
Brussels Airlines is owned by SN Airholding and is backed up by more than 80 years of aviation experience in Belgium. In June 2009, Lufthansa announced its interest in the management structure and capital of the Belgian airline. Brussels Airlines has been a member of the global airline alliance Star Alliance since 9 December 2009.