Brussels Airlines is the fourth-largest airline between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Only Turkish Airlines, Air France, and Ethiopian Airlines have more flights this summer, according to the latest OAG data.
Sub-Saharan Africa, which covers everywhere except North Africa, is fundamental to the carrier's widebody and long-haul operations. It has only two other long-haul destinations: New York JFK and Washington Dulles.
17 sub-Saharan African cities
Generally speaking, Brussels Airlines' sub-Saharan network is focused on the French language and former colonies. For example, it is the only European carrier to serve Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, a colony until 1962.
For most African cities, transit traffic over Brussels is vital for driving traffic, especially to France – no surprise!
Exceptions include Accra (Ghana), which booking data shows is (predictably) mainly about the UK and Germany due to their strong diaspora. Elsewhere, Entebbe (Uganda) primarily concerns the UK, Monrovia (Liberia) the US, and Freetown (Sierra Leone) the UK and US.
Six of Brussels Airlines' sub-Saharan cities are served 1x daily, helped by one-stops. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
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Where does it serve?
Brussels Airlines' network from mid-June is shown below. Conakry (Guinea) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) are back after being postponed in March 2020 due to the pandemic; they resume on June 11th.
- 1x daily: Abidjan (ABJ; Côte d'Ivoire), Dakar (DSS; Senegal), Douala (DLA; Cameroon), Entebbe (EBB), Kinshasa (FIH; Democratic Republic of the Congo), Yaoundé (NSI; Cameroon)
- 6x weekly: Accra (ACC)
- 5x weekly: Banjul (BJL; Gambia), Kigali (KGL; Rwanda), Lomé (LFW; Togo), Monrovia (ROB)
- 4x weekly: Freetown (FNA)
- 3x weekly: Conakry (CKY), Cotonou (COO; Benin), Luanda (LAD; Angola), Ouagadougou (OUA)
- 2x weekly: Bujumbura (BJM)
This shows Brussels Airlines' sub-Saharan departures (green) and arrivals (blue). They're very well-coordinated to drive connections, crucial to its success. Image: OAG Mapper.
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One stops are crucial
Like most carriers serving sub-Saharan Africa, one-stop routes are crucial for Brussels Airlines. They enable smaller cities to be served while increasing frequencies, connectivity, and competitiveness.
The need for one-stops is in part driven by only using A330-300s. Its nine-strong fleet each has 295 seats, with 30 in business, 21 in premium economy, and 244 in regular economy.
In contrast to other operators, especially Turkish Airlines which uses many narrowbodies, Brussels Airlines' sole use of widebodies helps with freight, often important for its African services.
Brussels Airlines' network from mid-June. Image: OAG Mapper.
What are its African one-stops?
Based on mid-June onwards, Brussels Airlines' vital but complex African operations are summarized below in order of frequency.
There are 'termination services' (returning the reverse way) and 'triangular' services, although it tends not to carry passengers on a fifth freedom basis in Africa. Notice Abidjan and its four different routings.
There is only one termination service which is purely non-stop. That's to Kinshasa four days a week, mainly as Congo was a former Belgian colony and, supplementing that, Kinshasa is the largest city in Francophone Africa. Point-to-point demand is therefore higher.
- Brussels-Douala-Yaoundé-Brussels: 1x daily
- Brussels-Kigali-Entebbe-Brussels: 5x weekly
- Brussels-Accra-Lomé and back: 5x weekly
- Brussels-Freetown-Monrovia-Brussels: 4x weekly
- Brussels-Dakar-Banjul and back: 4x weekly
- Brussels-Kinshasa: 4x weekly
- Brussels-Luanda-Kinshasa-Brussels: 3x weekly
- Brussels-Ouagadougou-Abidjan and back: 3x weekly
- Brussels-Dakar-Conakry and back: 3x weekly
- Brussels-Bujumbura-Entebbe-Brussels: 2x weekly
- Brussels-Cotonou-Abidjan-Brussels: 2x weekly
- Brussels-Abidjan-Accra-Brussels: 1x weekly
- Brussels-Abidjan-Cotonou-Brussels: 1x weekly
- Brussels-Banjul-Monrovia and back: 1x weekly
Have you flown Brussels Airlines to Africa? If so, share your experiences in the comments.
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Route Development Analyst – James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.
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