Air Belgium increases fares and adjusts flight schedule for next winter

Due to the current price of oil, Air Belgium is forced to increase its prices and adjust its flight programme for next winter, the Belgian airline announced to Belga press agency on Thursday. An increased fuel surcharge will thus apply to all tickets for all destinations sold from 1 August. A further increase in fares will apply from 1 September, depending on the destination.

Aircraft capacities will be reviewed, as will flight programmes by combining certain destinations.

Concretely, the twice-weekly flights from Brussels South Charleroi to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, will be combined with Fort-de-France, Martinique, which is already the case. Next winter, three flights per week will link Charleroi to the French West Indies. One of the two current triangular weekly flights will be split into 2 distinct flights: to Pointe-à-Pitre on Fridays and to Fort-de-France on Saturdays. The other triangular flight will be operated on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays.

Similarly, flights from Brussels Airport to Punta Cana are and remain combined with Curaçao during the summer season. But next winter, the flights to Curaçao will be combined with the new destination Bonaire, while Punta Cana will be served independently.

However, there is no change for the twice-weekly flights from Brussels Airport to Mauritius. Nor for the two new routes to South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg, each twice-weekly) which will be launched from Brussels Airport on 14 September.

For a minimum amount of 25 euros per one-way ticket, the increased fuel surcharge will apply to all tickets sold from 1 August for all destinations. Rates will be subject to further increases (minimum 50 euros per one-way, depending on the destination), starting 1 September.

Passengers who have already booked and paid for their ticket before this date will not have to pay a supplement, says Air Belgium.

The airline justifies the surcharge by the price of oil which has reached peaks for several months now, the weakness of the euro against the American dollar, the inflation in the eurozone, the collateral effects of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia.