Development since 2010
On 5 July 2010, a fifth Airbus A330-300 entered into service. Brussels Airlines increased its frequency to Abidjan (up to 6 weekly) and added Accra, Cotonou, Ouagadougou, and Lomé as new destinations. On 11 August 2010, Brussels Airlines and tour operator Club Med announced a new cooperation. As of April 2011, Brussels Airlines will transport 80% of all Club Med passengers out of Brussels, both on existing regular Brussels Airlines routes as on new charter routes operated by Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines also announced that it will lease 2 Airbus A320 aircraft from January 2011.[11]
On 26 August 2010, the company announced its new maintenance project. The contract with Sabena Technics for the A330 and Boeing 737 ended on 1 January 2011 and Brussels Airlines will then do the plane maintenance. To do this, the move from Building 117 to Hangar 41 was necessary. Also, 73 people from Sabena Technics joined the Brussels Airlines maintenance staff.
On 1 June 2012,[12] Brussels Airlines inaugurated the route to New York JFK, operating daily with an Airbus A330-300 fitted with the new interior. This is the first Belgian airline in 10 years to fly to New York, after Sabena and Delsey Airlines collapsed. Since 18 June 2013, they also fly 5 times a week to Washington Dulles.[13] Since April 2016, Toronto Pearson has been added to the North American network.[14] It has been announced that as of March 2017, a new service to Mumbai will commence with 5 flights per week operated by a new Airbus A330-200 arriving early 2017.
On 30 January 2014, Brussels Airlines added 9 seasonal destinations and returned to the Polish market after some years of absence. It also confirmed the permanent exit of its Avro RJ100 fleet by 2016.[15]
In April 2015, Brussels Airlines was praised by the White House for continuing its normal flying operation to Western African countries during the Ebola outbreak, allowing essential aid to be delivered.[16][17] All other airline companies, except Royal Air Maroc, suspended their flights to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.[18]
On 22 March 2016, members of the terrorist organization ISIL detonated two bombs in Brussels Airport, closing the airport until Sunday, 27 March 2016. Brussels Airlines shifted some long haul flights to Zurich and Frankfurt. They began Airbus A319/Avro RJ100 shuttle service between Liege/Antwerp and Zurich/Frankfurt, as well as providing contracted bus service from Brussels to Antwerp and Liege from where it served European destinations.[19]
On 28 September 2016, the supervisory board of Lufthansa announced that the airline would exercise the option to acquire the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines' parent company SN Airholding. The modalities would be defined before the end of the year to conclude the transaction at the beginning of 2017.[20]
In March 2017, Thomas Cook announced its intention to sell its Belgian flight operations, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, which was shut down by November 2017 with two aircraft and all traffic rights being integrated into Brussels Airlines.[21][22] Brussels Airlines took over the 160 Thomas Cook Airlines crew members.
In February 2018, CEO Bernard Gustin and financial director Jan De Raeymaeker resigned after a meeting with the Lufthansa board over the airline's future. Gustin was replaced by Christina Foerster on 1 April 2018. On 1 May 2018, Dieter Vranckx joined the company as CFO.
In December 2019, it was announced that Dieter Vranckx would replace Christina Foerster as CEO of Brussels Airlines effective 1 January 2020.[23][24]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, Brussels Airlines suspended all flights from 21 March through 19 April.[25] Additionally, Brussels Airlines cancelled its wet-lease contract with CityJet, leading to the termination of eight European destinations in the wake of the pandemic.[26] At the end of June 2020, Brussels Airlines also announced that they were cancelling several of flights scheduled for operation in September and October 2020.[27] Like many airlines Brussels Airlines did not refund affected customers in line with Flight Compensation Regulation timelines during the COVID pandemic and encouraged passengers to take credit vouchers or flights on alternative dates instead.[28][29]
In November 2021, Brussels Airlines announced a revision of their corporate design including a new logo.[30]
In 2022 the airline commissioned Belgian band Hooverphonic to write a song using the airline's standard safety instructions and film a music video of it to show passengers prior to takeoff on long-haul flights. The band debuted them at a 1 August surprise performance at a Brussels Airport gate where the airline's newest Airbus was making its first flight. "Safety is our priority but that is not a synonym for bland", said the airline's marketing director, Michel Moriaux. "I really thought it would be impossible. But at the same time, I love that kind of challenge and we went for it", said Hooverphonic's Alex Callier. The video, whose slightly surreal imagery includes some homages to Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte, will be shown on flights through the end of 2025.[31][32]
