Brussels Airlines to commence flights to Mumbai - here's what you need to know

Brussels Airlines (SN) will commence direct flights from Brussels to Mumbai, filling in the gap created when Jet Airways chose to replace Brussels with Amsterdam as its European hub for its hub-and-spoke operations. According to this piece from the Aviation Tribune, SN is expected to commence operations in March 2017, though seats are currently not up for sale on SN’s website, indicating that this plan is probably in very early stages. Here’s a look at Brussels Airlines, and what to expect over the next few months in the specific context of the proposed Mumbai operations.


In March 2016, Jet Airways ceased services from Delhi and Mumbai to Brussels, choosing Amsterdam as its European hub instead. The shame was that in the last few days before the Brussels operations could end, the Brussels bombings (including one at the airport itself) meant that Jet couldn’t give Brussels a proper goodbye, from where it had operated for nearly a decade, including several flights from other cities in India that later got canned.

SN's plans to fly to Mumbai will help fill the void created by Jet's withdrawal from BRU. SN’s expects to commence its BRU-BOM flights in March 2017, with a 5-times-a-week schedule. The route is expected to be operated using a newly leased or acquired A330 aircraft (SN already operates a mix of 332s and 333s for some of its longer-range routes.

Brussels Airlines economy class interior - Courtesy Travel.Bart.La

SN currently flies mainly only within Europe and Africa, with JFK being its lone US destination.

Brussels Airlines' current routes

SN refreshed their in-flight product some time in 2012, which is now used on all long-haul routes. You can check out the following video for more.


As a Star Alliance member, SN would expect to bring inbound traffic into BOM for further connections to Air India’s domestic network in India. Similarly, SN will be able to take some of Air India’s passengers connecting into Europe. This provides passengers with BRU as an option to get into Europe, in addition to existing options such as Frankfurt, London, Munich, and Paris.


SN used to be (no longer, though) a partner airline of Jet Airways, and I've flown BRU-CPH return with them, at the time that partnership was effective. This was on an Airbus A320, but that was a long time ago, and I really don't recall anything from that flight, TBH.

Anyway, now SN is a partner of Etihad Airways, which means you can use Etihad miles for award tickets on SN. For instance, a round trip between Brussels and New York on Brussels Airlines Business Class costs only 36,620 EtihadGuest miles, which is fantastic (there are taxes and fees of approx Eur 500 as well, since SN levies YQ surcharges). If the EtihadGuest partner tables are anything to go by, then BRU-BOM return award tickets should cost around 26,000 Etihad miles in economy and around 42,000 Etihad miles in business class.

In all, I think this route will provide a good additional connection from India into Europe. Of course, if you aren't based in Mumbai, it will require another domestic sector's travel to BOM, in order to fly SN. However, the new long-haul product appears pretty good, and so all I can say is that I cannot wait to try them on the BOM-BRU route!


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