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Brussels Airlines

 

Taken at Brussels on November 28 2006, Airbus 319 "OO-SSG" was the first aircraft to wear the full colors of Brussels Airlines which became operational on March 25 2007. It resembles a lot to the color scheme of SN Brussels Airlines, but with a different logo and the red color is the input of Virgin Express. In December it was decided to put 14 red balls in the tail instead of the so-called "unlucky" 13 (Photo: Skystef)



 

Base: Brussels
IATA: SN
ICAO: BEL (DAT till October 25 2008)
Website: brusselsairlines.com
Fleet of Brussels Airlines:

15x A319 (OO-SSA, OO-SSB, OO-SSF, OO-SSJ, OO-SSL, OO-SSN, OO-SSO, OO-SSQ, OO-SSR, OO-SSS, OO-SSU, OO-SSV, OO-SSW, OO-SSX, OO-SSY) + 9x history (OO-SSC, OO-SSD, OO-SSE, OO-SSG, OO-SSH, OO-SSI, OO-SSK, OO-SSM, OO-SSP),

16x A320 (OO-SNB, OO-SNE, OO-SNF, OO-SNH, OO-SNI, OO-SNJ, OO-SNK, OO-SNL, OO-SNM, OO-SNN (Eurowings c/s), OO-SNO, OO-SNP, OO-SNQ, OO-TCH, OO-TCQ, OO-TCV) + 4x history (OO-SNA, OO-SNC, OO-SND, OO-SNG)

4x A320neo (OO-SBA, OO-SBB, OO-SBC, OO-SBD)

10x A330 (OO-SFB (Eurowings c/s), OO-SFC, OO-SFD, OO-SFE, OO-SFF (white fuselage c/s), OO-SFG, OO-SFH, OO-SFJ (Eurowings c/s), OO-SFP,OO-SFX) + 11x history (OO-SFK (Eurowings c/s), OO-SFL (Eurowings c/s), OO-SFM, OO-SFN, OO-SFO, OO-SFT, OO-SFU, OO-SFV, OO-SFW, OO-SFY, OO-SFZ),

7x CRJ900 (EI-GEA, EI-GEC, EI-GED, EI-GEH, EI-FPB, EI-FPE, EI-FPI) + 2x CRJ1000 (EI-HIA, EI-HIB) leased from CityJet during 2023 (a/w n/t)

2x A340-300 all history (OO-SCW, OO-SCX which were in Eurowings c/s),

11x B737 all history (OO-LTM, OO-VBR, OO-VEG, OO-VEH, OO-VEJ, OO-VEK, OO-VEN, OO-VEP, OO-VES, OO-VET, OO-VEX),

26x Avro RJ85/100 all history (OO-DJK, OO-DJL, OO-DJN, OO-DJO, OO-DJP, OO-DJQ, OO-DJR, OO-DJS, OO-DJT, OO-DJV, OO-DJW, OO-DJX, OO-DJY, OO-DJZ, OO-DWA, OO-DWB, OO-DWC, OO-DWD, OO-DWE, OO-DWF, OO-DWG, OO-DWH, OO-DWI, OO-DWJ, OO-DWK, OO-DWL)

6x BAe146 all history (OO-DJE, OO-DJF, OO-DJG, OO-DJH, OO-DJJ, OO-MJE),

6x DHC-8 all history of which 1x leased from Austrian Arrows (OE-LGC), 4x leased from Flybe (G-ECOH, G-ECOI, G-ECOK, G-JECY) + 1x leased from Augsburg Airways (D-ADHD)

1x Embrear 145 history was leased from BMI Regional (G-RJXI) during 2014-2017

1x BAe146-300 history was leased from WDL (D-AWBA) during 2016

7x Sukhoi Superjet all history were leased from CityJet between 2016-2019 (EI-FWA, EI-FWB, EI-FWC, EI-FWD (f/c), EI-FWE (f/c), EI-FWF (f/c), EI-FWG (f/c))  (* = f/c Brussels Airlines livery)

10x CRJ900-1000 all history were leased from Cityjet 2018-2020 (EC-JZS, EC-JZT, EC-LPG, EC-MVC, EI-FPI, EI-GEA, EI-GEB, EI-GEC, EI-GED, EI-GEH) (none did wear titles nor the c/s of Brussels Airlines)

 

 
History: on November 7 2006, Brussels Airlines became the product of a merger between SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express and they went operational on March 25 2007. The roots of this newbie is SN Brussels Airlines and its history goes back as far as June 1 1966, when Delta Air Transport was formed. During 1988 it was renamed to DAT (Belgian Regional Airline) and during 1996 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sabena. With the demise of the Belgian flag carrier on November 7 2001, DAT took over most of the European network from November 10 onwards. After its take over by SN Air Holding, it was rebranded to SN Brussels Airlines on February 15 2002. Part of the African network was restored from April 26 2002 onwards, via a contract with Birdy Airlines which supplied three long haul aircraft. During early 2003, the 32 strong Avro RJ/BAe146 fleet was accompanied by three ex Sabena A319's introducing a new corporate identity. On October 27 2004 Birdy Airlines and their fleet was absorbed into SN Brussels Airlines. On April 12 2005 SN Holding took full stake in Virgin Express which led to a merger of the two airline companies. On October 31 2007, the Brussels Airlines group and Hewa Bora Airways (HBA) announced the creation of a new Congolese company with name of AirDC. By means of Brussels Airlines Mauritius subsidiary Pan African Airlines, this company would start (mainly domestic) operations by Spring 2008, but this project failed. Brussels Airlines made a new attempt during 2011 under the name of Korongo Airlines, this time in coöperation with the George Forrest International Group. Operational base became Lubumbashi and start-up airframes were an ex B737-300 and 2x ex BAe146's of Brussels Airlines. After some delay in getting approval from the Congolese government, operations started on April 16 2012 but after some incidents with the B737, it was decided to cancel the whole project in August 2015. In December 2007, Brussels Airlines did express their interest to join one of the three major airliner alliances. On September 15 2008, it was announced that Lufthansa would take 45 % of the stakes in SN Holding, strengthening the (financial) position of the Belgian carrier and this move was a first step in joining the Star Alliance Group. On December 11 2008, at the annual Board Meeting of Star Alliance member airlines, the application of Brussels Airlines was accepted and on December 9 2009 sealed in an official ceremony. On June 1 2012 transatlantic services were started with a daily rotation on New York, followed by Washington on June 18 2013. Final Boeing 737 service was made on December 6 2012. Flights to Asia started from March 30 2017 onwards with Mumbai as their first destination, however this flight was unsuccessful ending on January 7 2019. Although several airplanes were pained in Eurowings markings during 2018-2019, it was decided by the Lufthansa group on June 24 2019 that the integration under the Eurowings umbrella was terminated and the brand name "Brussels Airlines" as prime airline wiould be continued. The Covid 19 crisis temporary grounded almost its entire fleet between March 21 - June 15 2020, afterwards the fleet was reduced by 20% of its total capacity. On November 17 2021 an updated corporate identity was unveiled, accentuating the name "Brussels".

 

Belgian Airlines