Brussels Airlines serves 17 cities across sub-Saharan Africa.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
About Guide2Uganda
Guide2Uganda (www.guide2uganda.ug) is the most comprehensive source of travel information about Uganda that exists on the web, with more content on its cities & towns, accommodation, attractions, events, museums and galleries than any other online guide that currently exists for Uganda; as well as being a dynamic travel news and events driven site with fresh content added daily.
According to WeFollow & Peer Index (that measure online influence), we are among the most influential online media organizations in Uganda. Guide2Uganda was also awarded ‘’Best Destination Website in Uganda’’ by Jumia Travel Uganda in the 2018 Africa Travel Awards.
Share your travel stories & photos with the world via email: info@guide2uganda.ug
