Which US carriers fly to brussels airport?

Brussels Airport (BRU) is the principal international airport serving Belgium, and it is located around 7.5 miles northeast of the Brussels city center.

This facility covers over 3,000 acres and is equipped with three different runways, allowing it to serve as a major international hub for Brussels Airlines and TUI fly Belgium.

In 2019, the airport had over 26 million passengers pass through its doors, making it the 26th busiest facility in all of Europe, and it directly employs over 20,000 people.

The airport is managed by the Brussels Airport Company, and it is owned collectively by two investment firms and the Government of Belgium.

The Canada-based Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which is interestingly enough, a major force in the world of private investments, owns 39% of the airport while Australia-based investment bank and asset management firm Macquarie Group owns a smaller 36% stake, while the remaining 25% is directly government-controlled.

A few years ago, on March 22nd, 2016, Brussels Airport was the subject of a terrorist attack that resulted in the airport temporarily shutting down, but it would later reopen and set new records for passenger traffic.

In the years following the attack, the airport has continued to grow, despite the travel industry shutdown during the C.O.V.I.D.-.1.9 pandemic. The airport today remains the nation's primary international gateway and is increasingly one of Europe's most important airports.

While the number of transatlantic flights operated by Brussels Airport is dwarfed by the number operated by nearby airports like Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS), the presence of long-haul carriers at the principal Belgian air travel gateway has only continued to grow.

While Brussels Airlines has historically flown to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), there has historically been limited service to other US gateways.

For starters, Brussels is very easy to reach by train from other major European cities. From London, one can take the high-speed Eurostar train from St.

Pancras International and be in the center of Brussels within just a couple of hours. The same can also be said of high-speed trains from either Amsterdam or Paris.

Furthermore, there are flights from Brussels to destinations across Europe, as well as quick services to major hubs like London Heathrow, from which passengers could easily connect to services to dozens of destinations in North America.

Lufthansa Group, the parent company of Brussels Airlines, also serves dozens of destinations from its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) hub, making the need to add more and more destinations to the airline's network from Brussels fairly weak.

As a result, the facility is left with relatively limited transatlantic connectivity. Nonetheless, US legacy airlines continue to expand their offerings at Brussels Airport, capitalizing on medium-capacity aircraft and the ease of travel between the two cities, as the time difference makes it no challenge to schedule flights back-to-back.

In this article, we will take a deeper look at the US legacy carriers operating nonstop flights across the Atlantic from American hubs to Brussels.

Unquestionably, the US legacy carrier that operates the most direct flights between the United States and Brussels is Chicago-based United Airlines.

Before diving into the specifics of each of these routes, it is important to understand why exactly United operates the most services to and from Belgium.

For starters, United Airlines is a member of the global Star Alliance, an organization which also includes many European airlines.

Notably, Brussels Airlines is also a Star Alliance carrier, meaning that United and the Lufthansa Group-owned Belgian flag carrier have a long-standing relationship.

This allows passengers to seamlessly connect between United flights and those operated by Brussels Airlines, giving them one-stop connectivity across Europe.

It also allows them to easily book European multi-city itineraries that could, say, involve flying from New York to Brussels to Switzerland and then back to New York again, a route that would involve services operated by multiple different airlines that could all be booked from one relatively straightforward booking platform.

This context also helps us understand why United operates flights from multiple different destinations. While it could simply funnel all of its traffic through one major hub and just fly between there and Brussels, it actually flies nonstop to the Belgian capital from three different US airports.

Even more fascinatingly, the airline serves all of these destinations year-round, demonstrating a constant flow of business travel that is pretty much immune to the seasonal ebb and flow of tourism-based travel demand.

Every evening, United Airlines Flight 994 departs from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) bound for Brussels Airport. It takes off at 7:00 PM and arrives the following morning at 8:05 AM, after seven hours and five minutes of total travel time.

In the reverse direction, United Airlines Flight 995 departs from Brussels bound for Newark at 11:15 AM, set to arrive at 1:35 PM. This service is operated in both directions by a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner and features economy, premium economy, and United's Polaris Business class seating.

The airline also serves Brussels from Washington, D.C. Every evening at 5:50 PM, United Airlines Flight 950 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), touching down in Brussels at 7:15 AM after seven hours and twenty-five minutes in the skies.

In the reverse direction, United Airlines Flight 951 departs from Brussels at 11:55 AM and touches down back in the American capital city at 2:35 PM.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, this service is operated by a Boeing 777-300 aircraft, the largest jet in the United Airlines fleet by passenger capacity. The jet features a three-cabin seating configuration.

The third city United flies directly to Brussels from is Chicago. Every evening, United Airlines Flight 972 takes off from Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD) at 5:55 PM, arriving in Brussels the following morning at 8:55 AM after exactly eight hours of flight time.

In the reverse direction, United Airlines Flight 973 departs from Brussels at 10:10 AM and arrives back in Chicago at 12:15 PM, after over nine hours of total flight time. This flight, like the airline's Newark service, is also operated by the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.

For starters, Delta Air Lines flies directly to Brussels from its principal Northeast international gateway at John F. Kennedy International in New York. This flight operates throughout most of the year, but it is classified as a seasonal service as it is suspended during the winter months when passenger demand is low.

According to AeroRoutes, the airline will not operate this flight between January 6th and March 8th of this upcoming year.

When the airline is operating this flight, they do so with a smaller Boeing 767-300, with Delta Air Lines Flight 140 leaving from JFK around 7:30 PM and arriving the following morning shortly after 9:00 AM.

In the reverse direction, the flight departs from Brussels around 11:00 AM and touches back down in New York around 1:00 PM. This service is operated daily.

One of the most noteworthy additions to the airline's international network for summer 2025 will be a new service between Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) and Brussels.

This nonstop flight will operate three times weekly, will use a 767-300ER, and will launch on June 10th, according to Business Traveller.

It is important to note that there are quite a lot of transatlantic flights operated from Brussels that do not serve US destinations. Multiple Canadian carriers serve the destination from their hubs and TUI fly Belgium also serves a handful of destinations in the Caribbean, including Cancun International Airport (CUN).

However, these TUI services are designed mostly for Belgian tourists heading to sunny beach destinations in the Caribbean and are impractical for Americans who might be heading to Brussels for a visit.