Brussels Airlines ended 2022 with a loss of 74.1 million euros. However, this represents an improvement of 115 million euros compared with the previous year. With a more competitive structure, Brussels Airlines is looking to the future with greater optimism. The company is therefore resuming fleet growth and recruitment.
While the first few months of 2022 were still affected by the consequences of the omicron variant, the results for the second quarter marked a turning point. The upturn in traffic enabled the Belgian carrier to achieve its best quarterly result between July and September since its inception 20 years ago. Last year, this recovery resulted in a near doubling of passenger numbers compared with 2021. That's 6.8 million passengers last year, compared with 3.48 million in 2021.
Africa remains a stronghold
Brussels Airlines' traffic benefited from the excellent performance of the Europe-Africa market. The African continent continued to perform well, even during the Omicron wave. As a result, seat load factor once again reached the pre-Coronavirus pandemic record level of 85 %.
With the addition of a 9th long-haul aircraft, lhe Belgian airline has strengthened its position in West Africa with the opening of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Conakry (Guinea).. This brings the number of routes to sub-Saharan Africa to seventeen. Of these 17 destinations, Dakar (Senegal), Kinshasa (DRC), Douala (Cameroon), Entebbe (Uganda) and Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) are linked daily..
More aircraft in 2023
In order to strengthen its leading position on departures from Brussels, Brussels Airlines to receive four medium-haul aircraft in 2023. Of the four additional aircraft, two Airbus A320 will join the Brussels Airlines fleet on a permanent basis. Two CRJ-type aircraft - with a capacity of 85 to 100 seats - will be leased to the airline. wet lease CityJet.
These lower-capacity aircraft will operate flights to secondary markets such as Bordeaux (France) and Billund (Denmark).
All in all, the Brussels Airlines fleet will comprise 36 medium-haul and 9 long-haul aircraft by 202330 and 8 respectively after the restructuring in 2020. In addition, for the first time in its history, the airline will welcome three brand-new A320neos in 2023 and two more in 2024. These aircraft will replace older A319s and A320s. With the expected upturn in traffic, Brussels Airlines should return to profit for the year.
