In April, there were 16.9 percent fewer people on Brussels Airlines flights than in April of last year. Because of the terrorist attacks on March 22, Brussels Airlines had to run fewer Cheap Brussels airlines flight tickets, which led to these numbers.

The airport where Brussels Airlines is based was closed to all passengers until April 3. Since then, Brussels Airlines has been slowly rebuilding its flight options from Brussels Airport while cutting back on flights from the smaller airports where it used to stop. By the end of April, about 85% of Brussels Airlines’ flights were going as planned.

Together, the operational problems and the business effects of the attacks on March 22 led to a 16.9% drop in passengers in April. This is mostly because the first half of the month showed a drop in growth. As the month went on, the situation with the passengers got better. The numbers are also affected by the fact that the busy eastern holidays started in April last year, but in March this year.

Most of the drop was seen on the European network. Brussels Airlines had 2.6% more people on board flights to Africa. There were 9.8% more people on Trans-Atlantic flights, in part because Toronto was added as a new destination.

The numbers show a time when our flight programme could not be run normally because of infrastructure problems. The operational situation got a lot better in May. Passengers no longer have to get to the airport early, and the long lines are no longer a problem. We have done a lot of business-related things to increase market demand.

On average, 66.5% of the seats on the flights were filled. Even so, the average number of people on European flights was 71.4%, and on flights to/from Africa and the US, 61 and 63% of the seats were taken. The amount of freight on flights to Africa was 68% (it was 80% in 2015), but the amount of freight on flights from Africa to Brussels stayed the same.

In addition to its regular flights, Brussels Airlines also does a lot of group and holiday flights for tour operators. The numbers in this press release do not include the number of passengers for this event.

April

2016

April

2015

Year/year difference in %

Passengers

542,226

652,532

-16.9

Available seat-kilometres (000)

1,412.27

1,386.30

+1.9

Revenue Passenger-kilometres (000)

938.63

1,023.78

-8.3

Freight ton-kilometers

(000)

15,343

17,324

-11,4

Freight Load Factor

65%

80%

-15 pct. points

Bezettingsgraad Passagiers (Passenger Load Factor)

66.5%

73.9%

• 7.4 pct. points