Brussels Airlines has announced a new agreement with CityJet for the upcoming summer season. The deal will involve two wet-leased CRJ-900 jets, while the Belgian carrier will also complement its fleet with two more Airbus A320s.

Brussels Airlines CRJ summer lease

The airline's agreement with Irish ACMI provider CityJet was signed in January and will see Brussels Airlines wet lease additional capacity in the form of two 88-seater CRJ-900 aircraft. The two jets will begin operating for Brussels on March 26th with daily flights to nine European destinations, including Bordeaux, Milan, Lyon, Geneva and Vienna.

​Jan Derycke, Head of Network Strategy and Planning at Brussels Airlines, commented,

"This cooperation allows us to grow our fleet in a flexible manner and increase our European offer. In addition, we can add Billund to our network and increase frequency to and from Copenhagen and Berlin. We will also be able to serve regional (business) routes such as Hamburg and Birmingham even more. In total, we will serve nine destinations in cooperation with CityJet."

CityJet, a trusted leasing partner of Lufthansa Group, was established in 1993 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The airline is set to bolster its all-CRJ-900 fleet this summer with the addition of several 100-seater CRJ-1000s - the firm's biggest customer in recent years has been SAS, which first began its partnership with the ACMI provider in 2015. Its last cooperation with Brussels Airlines pre-dated the pandemic and was canceled in March 2020 for obvious reasons.

CityJet CRJ-900
Photo: Brussels Airlines

The first CRJ flight will be an early morning service from Brussels Airport (BRU) to Vienna International Airport (VIE) on March 26th, followed by flights to Bordeaux (BOD), Billund (BLL), Copenhagen (CPH) and Milan Malpensa (MXP) on the same day.

Cathal O’Connell, Chief Commercial Officer at CityJet, added,

"At CityJet, we are looking forward to working with Brussels Airlines in growing its network and delivering excellent service to its passengers throughout this summer season."

Two more A320s

Along with its additional wet-leased capacity, Brussels Airlines will make two permanent additions to its fleet with two Airbus A320ceos set to join from Lufthansa this summer. The two jets will be deployed across its entire medium-haul network, "with a focus on new leisure destinations such as Djerba and Monastir."

Check out Simple Flying's deep dive on the Brussels Airlines all-Airbus fleet in 2022!

This will be on top of its incoming Airbus A320neos, the first of which are to arrive this year. In December, Brussels Airlines announced it would add another two Airbus A320neos to its fleet, taking it to five in total - three will join in 2023 and the remaining two are due in 2024.

Derycke added,

"In total, our fleet now grows to 36 medium-haul and 9 long-haul aircraft. With this fleet and network expansion, Brussels Airlines is achieving its targeted growth three years ahead of schedule."

European capacity up by 10%

The airline's bolstered fleet will enable a 10% increase in capacity on its European network this summer - this network will include new additions Billund (BLL), Brindisi (BDS), Djerba (DJE), Monastir (MIR), Warsaw (WAW) and Zurich (ZRH). Along with this, it will boost frequencies on several established European routes, including Hamburg (HAM), Madrid (MAD), Munich (MUC) and Tenerife (TNS). Brussels will support its growth with 20 new pilots and more than 90 cabin crew, along with over a hundred airport, operational and back-office support staff.

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Do you have any trips with Brussels Airlines booked for this summer? Are you hoping to fly on one of its wet-leased CRJ-900s? Let us know your plans in the comments.

  • Brussels Airlines Tile
    Brussels Airlines
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    SN/BEL
    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Brussels Airport
    Year Founded:
    2006
    Alliance:
    Star Alliance
    Airline Group:
    Lufthansa Group
    CEO:
    Dorothea von Boxberg
    Country:
    Belgium
    Region:
    Europe
    Loyalty Program:
    Miles & More