On Monday December 19th, Brussels Airlines announced that the company is preparing to fly almost 270,000 passengers during the year-end vacation. This represents a 28% increase compared to the 2021 holiday season. For passengers starting their journey in Brussels, New York is the most popular intercontinental destination and Malaga the European one.
Between December 24th and January 8th more than 268,000 passengers are flying around the world with Belgium’s national home carrier. Friday December 23rd is the most popular departing day – with more than 20,000 passengers – closely followed by Monday December 26th. This is an overall year-on-year booking increase of 28%. Long-haul bookings are up by 31% and medium-haul by 27%.
Brussels Airlines noted that when looking at the long-haul destinations, New York, Dakar and Kinshasa flights have the most passengers on board. Malaga, Tenerife and Rome are the most popular European cities to fly to during the Christmas holidays.
The results are a positive sign for the company despite the recent industrial actions at Brussels Airport. On Friday December 16th, trade unions in Belgium conducted a strike that made Brussels Airport reduce its capacity to just 30% of the usual traffic.
The action was first supposed to take place on the 15th, but was postponed by a day due to the European Summit taking place in Brussels at that time. Although the summit lasts for three days, including on Friday, having the demonstration on the 16th will be less problematic.
The Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC) and the General Labour Federation of Belgium (FGTB) first announced the call, with the Christian Trade Federation (ACV) and the Liberal Umbrella ACLVB joining the demonstration soon after.
The unions are protesting against the soaring energy prices, demanding a cap, as well as more purchasing power, and especially chose the period of the European Summit to draw more attention to their action. A national strike on the same matter also took place last month. After CSG and FGTB rejected a Federal Government proposal on mitigating the impact of energy costs, another strike was called.
