An early casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic was a relatively obvious one for Singapore Airlines, with the carrier’s proposed October 2020 re-launch of passenger services to and from Brussels in Belgium axed, while strict border restrictions had put a halt to restriction-free travel almost globally.
Today the airline has announced that it will now resurrect plans to fly non-stop four times weekly to and from the ‘EU capital’ from early April 2024, adding a 13th European destination to the carrier’s roster.
It will also be the fifth direct Asia-Pacific connection for Brussels Airport.
“Brussels is an important European economic and political centre, and the launch of this service adds another historical and charming city to SIA’s list of destinations. It also gives our customers who are travelling from Europe an additional point to connect to Singapore, as well as the wider Asia-Pacific region via our hub at Changi Airport.”
Dai Hao Yu, Acting Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Singapore Airlines
Which aircraft?
Singapore Airlines will operate its 253-seat three-class Airbus A350-900 on the new route, featuring 42 of the 2013 Business Class seats and 24 Premium Economy seats, with the balance of capacity served by a 187-seat Economy Class cabin.
We have a comprehensive review of the experience you can expect when flying Business Class on this route.
Unfortunately, Premium Economy features the poorest seat in that category across the SIA fleet – at 19 inches wide it’s half an inch narrower than those fitted by Singapore Airlines on the Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380 in this cabin class.
The schedule
This new service will commence on 5th April 2024, departing Singapore just before midnight on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, touching down in Brussels just after 7am the next day. That’s a generous 13 hour 25 minute scheduled flight time, ample for getting some overnight rest on the way to Europe.
Singapore Brussels
5 Apr 2024 – 25 Oct 2024
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ304 A350 LH |
||||||||
| SIN 23:55 |
BRU 07:20* |
||||||||
* Next day
It’s also perfect timing for a full working day in Brussels, with the Sunday flight landing on Monday morning sure to be a popular option for those starting a working week in the city.
Those with onward connections aren’t forgotten – as this SQ304 flight meets a large bank of Brussels Airlines (a fellow Star Alliance carrier) departures across Europe and beyond.
On the Brussels – Singapore sector departure is at 12.10pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, landing in Singapore at 6.55am the following calendar day in each case.
Brussels Singapore
6 Apr 2024 – 26 Oct 2024
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ303 A350 LH |
||||||||
| BRU 12:10 |
SIN 06:55* |
||||||||
* Next day
Thanks to prevailing winds, it’s a slightly shorter and 12 hours 45 minutes on the eastbound flight, with arrival also well timed for the start of a full working day in the Lion City, or to connect with a host of departing flights out of Changi to other Asia-Pacific hubs and several Australian cities.
The year-round route will also operate four times per week in the IATA northern winter timetable season, with slightly different timings but on the same days of operation, as shown below.
Singapore Brussels
27 Oct 2024 – 28 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ304 A350 LH |
||||||||
| SIN 23:55 |
BRU 06:50* |
||||||||
* Next day
Brussels Singapore
28 Oct 2024 – 29 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ303 A350 LH |
||||||||
| BRU 11:20 |
SIN 06:55* |
||||||||
* Next day
Tickets for these new Brussels flights will be made available for sale progressively through the usual distribution channels from 13th September 2023.
Update: Generous award space has now been loaded for this route, with over 900 immediately confirmable Business Class saver awards in the first five months of operation. See here for details.
Further details about the re-launch are available via the Singapore Airlines press release.
Brussels is actually a resumption
This route launch isn’t totally new, and it wasn’t back in 2020 either. The Belgian capital was previously served by Singapore Airlines regularly with passenger flights over the years, starting in 1979.
The route was cut in April 2003, somewhat ironically, as one of the airline’s many cancellations during the 2003/04 SARS outbreak, along with cities like Berlin, Vienna, Chicago and Madrid.
Back in the early 2000s Boeing 747-400s (yes, passenger ones!) would ply the Brussels route, continuing to Manchester. Today that same aircraft type is still seen in Brussels, with the SIA Cargo fleet passing through on a regular basis.
Brussels redemption rates
These are the KrisFlyer miles needed for the Singapore – Brussels route.
| KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ Brussels |
||
| Saver | Advantage | |
| Economy | 42,000 | 70,000 |
| Premium Economy | 71,000 | n/a |
| Business | 103,500 | 123,000 |
Award seats should be loaded alongside commercial space from 13th September 2023, so keep an eye out if you’re interested as there is likely to be a healthy supply of saver awards on offer.
Update: Generous award space has now been loaded for this route, with over 900 immediately confirmable Business Class saver awards in the first five months of operation. See here for details.
Which lounge?
These new flights will operate from Terminal 3 at Singapore Changi Airport, so it’s the new SilverKris lounge complex for those eligible through status or travel class prior to departure on the new Brussels flight.
In Brussels, Star Alliance Gold (including KrisFlyer Elite Gold and PPS Club members) and Business Class passengers will be able to access the lounges prior to departure.
Brussels Airlines operates two lounges at the airport; The Suite and The Sunrise Lounge.
Singapore Airlines flights will depart from Terminal B (non-Schengen), and so eligible passengers will be directed to use the third-party Diamond Lounge (see this review), which is nothing special.
This lounge is located on level 4 of the terminal after security control, near gate B1.
The lounge reportedly gets very busy, though it does have showers. Overall The Loft in Terminal A gets much better reviews.
Singapore Airlines passengers are entitled to use The Loft lounge as well. This would be our recommendation, with the extended and award-winning alternative designed by Lexus including nap rooms and more luxurious shower facilities.
There is a central security area at Brussels Airport, so you can pass between the airside area in both Terminal A and Terminal B without having to re-clear security. If you do head to The Loft, in Terminal A near gate A42, bear in mind it’s a good 10-minute walk back to Terminal B for your flight.
You will also have to go through a passport check before you leave the Schengen zone and enter Terminal B for your Singapore Airlines flight. This is quite easy, but do allow a further five minutes for that.
City of Brussels
Once a small rural settlement, Brussels has grown to be a wealthy and powerful political city of Europe. It’s the de-facto capital of the European Union, thanks to hosting a number of principal EU institutions.
For tourists, Brussels also has much to offer. There are numerous UNESCO world heritage sites to visit, fantastic local beers, not to mention plenty of Michelin starred culinary experiences.
The airport itself, sometimes referred to as Brussel-Nationaal (Brussels-National) or Zaventem, is sleepier than SIA’s other ports of call in Europe, but by no means small. It has three runways and a “one terminal concept”. That sounds like a recipe for a long walk to your gate to us!
In 2019 it saw just under 26 million passengers (by comparison, Changi managed nearly 65 million) but with a healthy year-on-year passenger growth figure and big terminal expansion plans, the future was looking bright for Brussels.
Despite this being a reinstated passenger route following a 20-year gap, SIA is no stranger to Brussels and has been operating regular cargo services on the Boeing 747-400 Freighter for many years.
Brussels Airlines
Brussels is home to one of the less well known but still substantial Star Alliance carriers – Brussels Airlines. Having launched in 1997 and been a member of Star Alliance since 2009, the carrier has grown its fleet to around 40 aircraft including wide-body Airbus A330s, some of which even saw service with SIA in the past!
The airline rose from the ashes of the once-successful flag carrier, Sabena, merging with Virgin Express to become Brussels Airlines. Lufthansa initially acquired a 45% stake in 2009, facilitating their entry to Star Alliance before going on to purchase the remaining shares in 2017.
As a wholly owned subsidiary, Brussels Airlines is a member of Lufthansa’s frequent flyer programme Miles & More. Despite challenging economic operating conditions in Europe they even managed to eke out a small annual operating profit for the group over the last five years or so prior to the pandemic.
Brussels Airlines flies to over 80 destinations, including plenty of European cities, some North African cities and the USA.
Singapore Airlines signed its first codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines back in 2011, adding SQ-coded flights to Belgium’s capital city from London, Barcelona and Milan to connect with its own Singapore services.
We expect to see Singapore Airlines extending their existing code-sharing agreements on a range of Brussels routes prior to the launch of these direct flights.
Connection options
The 7.20am arrival into the Belgian capital on SQ304 connects you comfortably to a myriad of potential options in Europe including at 9.40am to London (assuming you missed out on securing a direct flight), at 9.30am to Malaga and at 9.50am to Venice.
Other morning connection options include Rome, Paris, Madrid and Tel Aviv.
Later in the morning you can also take one of Brussels Airlines’ long-haul flights to the USA, such as to Washington D.C. and New York, while their extensive Africa network also kicks off at around 11am to destinations including Kinshasa, Accra, Freetown, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Inbound connections from European cities plus these long-haul USA and Africa flights also time nicely with a connection back to Singapore on SQ303 at 11.20am. For example you can arrive back into Brussels at around 7.30am from New York or Washington, 8.55am from London and between 5am and 7am from most of the Africa network.
These new flights will therefore add some useful connection options, especially in Europe, even to cities Singapore Airlines already operates to directly but which can be difficult to secure saver award seats on, like London.
If you’ve had enough of flying after being on a plane for 13 hours, another benefit of Brussels is its fantastic rail network, with connecting train services across western Europe.
Direct trains from the airport railway station itself link several cities in Belgium, while at least four trains an hour head to Brussels South for international connections, including to London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Zurich.
Summary
With COVID-19 behind it, Singapore Airlines can finally launch its 13th European route, with Brussels a welcome addition to the network from 5th April 2024.
This should provide increased award availability among the newly added 336 Business Class seats per week in both directions, which is great news for those making travel plans to Europe next summer.
There will also be a range of connection options through Star Alliance carrier Brussels Airlines throughout Europe and to and from Africa and the USA.
Singapore Airlines will be hoping to kick start the route and re-establish a name for itself in the Belgian market after 20 years without a passenger service.
Keep an eye out for award seats and cash fares being loaded from 13th September 2023.
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)