Three Airbus A320neo to join the Brussels Airlines fleet in 2023

Today, the Lufthansa Group Executive Board and the Board of Directors of SN Airholding have authorised the allocation of three Airbus A320neo to Brussels Airlines. With these new state-of-the-art aircraft, Belgium’s home carrier makes an essential step in the further modernisation of the airline’s fleet and herewith significantly lowers the CO2- and noise-emissions on its medium-haul network. It’s the very first time in the history of Brussels Airlines, that the company will phase in brand new aircraft, coming right from the manufacturer.  

“As a responsible airline with ambitious sustainability targets, it’s crucial for us to continue our path of further modernizing our fleet. Thanks to our mother company Lufthansa, we are for the very first time in our 19 year-long history able to replace older A319 Airbus by three modern and fuel efficient aircraft that will leave the Airbus factory by summer 2023. Compared to our A319 aircraft, the three A320neo will allow a noise contour reduction of 50% and reduce fuel use and CO2-emissions by 11% per flight. Thanks to the higher seating capacity of this ultra-modern Airbus, the fuel use and CO2 emissions per seat decrease with 30%”.

• Peter Gerber, CEO of Brussels Airlines 

“Needless to say, that we are extremely enthusiast to welcome the Airbus A320neo in our fleet. The modern General Electric CFM engines of the Airbus A320neo are renowned for their fuel efficiency and lower noise contour. Next to that, the three new aircraft will bring us closer to our target of a fully harmonized A320 medium-haul fleet to aircraft only, herewith not only further reducing the complexity of our Maintenance & Engineering activities but as well the whole operation. Due to the high similarity with the current fleet, the crews are able to operate the new aircraft after a short familiarization, this makes the integration seamless”.

• Edi Wolfensberger, COO of Brussels Airlines 

Investing in the current crisis in new aircraft, underlines the importance for the Lufthansa Group carriers to continue working towards the group’s sustainability target of reducing its CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 compared to 2019 and to become CO2-neutral by 2050.

In comparison to the to be phased out A319 aircraft, the Airbus A320neo burns in average 11% less fuel and reduces noise emissions by 50%. Thanks to a significantly higher seating capacity (+27%), the fuel use per seat reduces by 30%. Compared to an A320ceo (current engine option), the brand new model uses 16% less fuel for the same seating capacity and thus reduces the CO2 emissions by 16%.

Brussels Airlines counts currently 38 aircraft in its overall fleet, of which eight long-haul aircraft of the type Airbus A330 and 30 medium-haul aircraft (16 A320 and 14 A319).