Do Brussels Airport’s new Brazil and Tanzania links change the business case for Zaventem?

airport adding new intercontinental routes and handling passenger and cargo traffic

Brussels Airport is the main international airport of Belgium. It is located in the municipality of Zaventem in Flemish Brabant, 12 km northeast of Brussels. Also informally known as Brussels-National Airport or Brussels-Zaventem Airport, Brussels Airport handled more than 26 million passengers in 2019, making it the 26th-busiest airport in Europe.

destination country for the new Sao Paulo link

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 213 million people. Brazil is a federation composed of 26 states and a Federal District, which hosts the capital, Brasília. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro.

destination country for the new Kilimanjaro link

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest, Kenya to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the east, Mozambique and Malawi to the south, Zambia to the southwest, and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west.

operator of the Brussels-Sao Paulo service and cargo user at Brussels Airport

Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish and Portuguese.

operator adding the direct link to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, West Asia, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew training. It is a member of the Star Alliance as well as the International Air Transport Association. The airline's IATA code SN is inherited from its predecessors, Sabena and SN Brussels Airlines.

destination added by Brussels Airlines

Mount Kilimanjaro is a large dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level and 4,900 m (16,100 ft) above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere and the fourth most prominent peak on Earth.

city connected by the new routes and commercial catchment area

The City of Brussels is the largest municipality and historical centre of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the Flemish Region, and Belgium. The City of Brussels is also the administrative centre of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions in its European Quarter.

region directly reconnected with Brussels after about 25 years

South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of the Americas.

region referenced as a possible connecting hub

Gulf Province is a province of Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast. The provincial capital is Kerema. The 34,472 km2 province is dominated by mountains, lowland river deltas, and grassland flood plains. In Gulf Province, the Kikori, Turama, Purari, and Vailala rivers meet the Papuan Gulf. The province has the second-smallest population of all the provinces of Papua New Guinea with 106,898 inhabitants.

region central to Brussels Airlines’ long-standing positioning

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 including adjacent islands, it covers around 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With nearly 1.4 billion of the world's human population, Africa's population is the youngest among all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.

region made more directly accessible by the Tanzania link

East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the region is recognized in the United Nations Statistics Division scheme as encompassing 18 sovereign states and 4 territories.

larger hub competing with Brussels Airport

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, known informally as Schiphol Airport, is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located 9 kilometres southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province of North Holland. It was the world's fifth busiest airport by international passenger traffic in 2024.

larger hub competing with Brussels Airport

Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport, also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, 23 km (14 mi) northeast of the city centre of Paris. It is named after World War II leader and French president Charles de Gaulle, whose initials form its IATA airport code.

larger hub competing with Brussels Airport

Frankfurt am Main, usually shortened to Frankfurt, is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 778,589 inhabitants as of 2025 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the foreland of the Taunus on its namesake river Main, the city forms a continuous conurbation with Offenbach am Main; its urban area has a population of more than 2.7 million.

named operator launching Brussels-Sao Paulo passenger flights

Aero 2000 S.A., d/b/a LATAM Airlines Argentina, formerly LAN Argentina, was an airline based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a member of the LATAM Airlines Group. It was the second-largest airline in Argentina at the time it was disbanded.

group owning Brussels Airlines

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, trading as Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation holding company. Its principal airline, Lufthansa German Airlines is the flag carrier of Germany. Lufthansa Group is the second-largest airline group in Europe by passengers carried, as well as largest in Europe and fourth largest in the world by revenue.

private-public airport operator running Zaventem airport

Brussels Airport Company, afgekort BAC, is de exploitant van Brussels Airport, de nationale luchthaven van België.

region connected through Sao Paulo

Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish and Portuguese.

former Belgian flag carrier whose collapse affected Brussels’ long-haul network

The Société anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne, better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the flag carrier of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its hub at Brussels Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, SN Brussels Airlines was formed through a takeover of former subsidiary Delta Air Transport and took over part of Sabena's assets in February 2002. SN Brussels Airlines merged with Virgin Express in 2007 to form Brussels Airlines.

area where airport-related jobs and services are concentrated

Flemish Brabant is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region. Its capital is Leuven. It has an area of 2,118 km2 (818 sq mi) which is divided into two administrative districts containing 65 municipalities.