Brussels Airlines will not fly between its namesake city and Birmingham this summer, with the freed-up equipment to be used on more demanded and profitable summer sun routes. It follows Aegean ending its flights to the West Midlands airport and Wizz Air cutting four routes. However, these changes have been more than offset by easyJet's new base and the arrival of Pegasus and Saudia in 2023.

Set to return this winter? 

The Star Alliance carrier presently serves Birmingham 10 times weekly using the 141-seat A319, its lowest-capacity equipment. The last flight from Birmingham is on March 30, the day before northern airlines switch to summer schedules.

On four days of the week, aircraft remain overnight in the UK, enabling an early morning departure to the capital of Europe and the possibility of a day trip.

The 288-mile (464 km) business- and connection-focused route is scheduled to return on October 27, the first day of the northern winter aviation season. It plans a 12-weekly operation, more than now. As always, things could change.

It is fair to comment on trains to London and then to Brussels, although even leaving Birmingham New Street before 06:00 means you will not be in Brussels until 11:00+. Of course, this does not consider those passengers who connect to other flights in Belgium's capital.

A 64% load factor in November 

According to UK Civil Aviation Authority data, the Lufthansa Group airline carried 6,801 roundtrip Birmingham passengers in November 2023, the most recent month available.

Relating passenger traffic to Cirium capacity information shows that just 64% of seats were filled – ouch. It had far too many seats relative to the demand at the given prices. But it does not have smaller equipment, meaning either the route goes or frequencies are reduced, which would further reduce the appeal to its core passengers.

The UK has just three Brussels routes

No Birmingham flights means that Brussels will have 59 weekly UK flights each way this summer. They will be to Heathrow (40 weekly in June; British Airways and Brussels Airlines), Manchester (12 weekly, Brussels Airlines), and Edinburgh (daily, Brussels Airlines).

While it is an entirely unfair comparison, Amsterdam is linked to 23 UK airports and Paris CDG and Orly to 13.

Of course, Brussels has very quick trains to London, the Belgian capital is not a big tourist draw (although I always like visiting!), the UK is no longer in the EU (and all that might mean for Brussels travel), and Brussels Airlines is arguably not the sizable Europe-to-Europe hub carrier it once was.

What about 10 and 20 years ago? 

For context, it is worth recalling that all airlines had flights from eight UK airports to Brussels in 2014: Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, and Newcastle.

It was a time when there were 166 weekly flights in June, almost three times more than now. Birmingham was served 28 weekly, albeit using lower-capacity RJ100s and Dash 8 Q400s.

In 2004, when everything was even more different, 13 UK airports were linked: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, and Southampton. There were 312 weekly flights in June.