Mumbai30 Nov 23 1 Traveller Economy
Showing International Flight from Brussels
About Brussels
As the de facto capital to the European Union, Brussels is a city that celebrates Flemish culture with exquisite architecture. The city is blessed with rich Gothic and Baroque-styled architecture that adds to the beauty of Brussels. The city is the capital of Belgium and has influences of the Dutch and French as it was once a colony. Brussels is one of the populated cities in Belgian and enjoys the status of being the wealthiest city in the country. Brussels has also turned into an important political and financial centre on international levels. The city is bilingual with citizens speaking both Dutch and French. However, the population leans more towards the French language.
Brussels is blessed with some exquisite UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the Grand Palace. While the city has some of the finest architectural bliss to witness, it's the food and beer culture that caters to a wide population of tourists. The Belgian witbier is a famous crafted beer that has been recognised worldwide. Even the waffles made by the Belgians have received honour and stature in the culinary industry to be the best. Booking a flight ticket to Brussels is quite convenient, as is living in the city. There are many options for a backpacker or even a luxury traveller to be entertained as Brussels does accommodate all kinds of travellers.
The hotel rooms are also cheap, provided you make some prior bookings and ensure to get your travel expenses sorted beforehand. It's all about planning perfectly.
Best time to visit Brussels
Spring and fall are the best seasons in which you can visit Brussels. The months March to May and September to October, see Brussels in new lights. With the onset of summer, the city rings in various music festivals as the climate is drier in comparison to other times. With the temperatures falling between 10 degree Celsius to 15 degree Celsius, the chill breeze roaming the city paints quite a romantic picture. This is also a favourable time to visit for many tourists, making flight tickets to Brussels slightly expenses. Even accommodations take a hike with tourists from the UK, Netherlands, Germany and other parts of the neighbouring cities visiting the city. Mainly, people flock over to Brussels to revel in the carnival hosted in the city. In the month of May, the city hosts Iris Day Festival and Brussels Jazz Weekend. These festivities often pique the interests of tourists who wish to engage in the carnivalesque celebrations. During this time, flight tickets to Brussels see a spike, as does the accommodation. The best thing that would make sense for you is to book your flight tickets and hotels in Brussels, months ahead. You might also receive some cheap flight deals online.
September to October sees the temperatures fall to the mid-60s. The atmosphere is quite breezy and beautiful, which makes travelling within the city a good trip. In September, Brussels hosts the Brussels Comic Strip Festival as well as Belgian Beer Weekend. These festivals are attractive, they don't bring in as much crowd as one would hope. Travelling to Brussels from India during September and October would be quite fun as the temperatures are lovely. Plus, with less crowd, the accommodation also sees a drop, giving you ample options to choose instead of settling for some hotel in Brussels.
Place to visit in Brussels
Brussels is blessed with some very European tourist attractions. From the Belgian Comic Strip Museum to the Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, many places in the city would give you the tourist vibe and at the same time will pique your interest. To start with, the first on your list should be the Grand Palace, a royal Gothic and Baroque-style structure that has even been tagged by the UNESCO World Heritage Site. While you're around this area, you can also visit the attractions close to the palace such as St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. The famous Manneken-Pis, literally a bronze statue of a small boy relieving himself, is a landmark that should definitely be witnessed. The city also has a museum dedicated to musical instruments called Musical Instruments Museum. It's quite a fancy place to visit as it houses 1,200 instruments extracted from around the world. You should also check out archaic Renaissance-inspired arcade Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubter, which is also popularly called 'umbrella of Brussels' in the city.
Things to do in Brussels
At Brussels, there are two things that you simply cannot miss, waffles and beer. The country is famed for its Belgian waffles and Belgian witbier. You can either go separately on an excursion to check out waffles and beers, or you can mix it up in one tour. Brewery hopping is certainly something you would enjoy as you will get to taste some of their finest crafted beers. A day at the theme park, Mini Europe, will do you good. You can take a day trip to the theme park and get to see miniature versions of all the famous European tourist attractions. Plus, their chocolates are another trip to the factory that deserve to be explored.
Food and Restaurants in Brussels
Brussels sees an interesting amalgam of flavours from the French and Dutch style of cooking. Needless to say, mussels also play an important role in their cuisine. Their dish for summer, mosselen-friet, is a lovely melange of mussels and fries, something that would definitely go down well with you. One of the main reasons why summer is ideal to try this dish out is because it is the harvest season of mussels, which means you will be blessed with some lip-smacking fresh mussels on a plate. Much of their cuisine gives seafood a lot of emphasis. Garnalen krokkettenm, one of their dishes, is basically varied types of teeny grey shrimp put together with rich béchamel sauce and served with bread. While seafood does take centre stage in their cuisine, the Belgians do know how to cook good meat as well. You will find some impeccable thick beef stew which is often cooked with beer. Speaking of which, beer plays a staple to their meals just like Belgian frites (fries), and stoemp is to their evening meals. They simply cannot do without the presence of potato and beer.
Talk about Belgian food, and you simply cannot miss waffles and chocolates. They definitely know how to make people go weak in the knees with their savouries. The country is literally recognised for the waffles made by them. While you will see various toppings put on the dessert, the best is the classic Belgian waffle with whipped cream and probably Nutella. Some patisseries don't even add these toppings and let the customer experience the true nature of a lovely plain and crispy waffle. For the classic Belgian food interspersed with French cuisine, head straight to Maison Antoine. As for some more interesting take on Belgian recipes visit Pistolet Original, Au Vieux Marché, Le Clan des Belges, Noordzee Mer du Nord, La Quincaillerie and Delirium Cafe, to name a few. You will return with a big smile on your face after visiting these restaurants and their exquisite culinary.
How to reach Brussels (Transportation)
By Air
As the capital of Belgian, Brussels airport witnesses a good number of tourists at the Brussels International Airport. Flight connectivity of Brussels to many important European cities is excellent. Although the city's airport is located in Flanders, which is away from the Brussels main city, thanks to airport shuttle services, buses and rentals, travelling within the city are possible and convenient. You can book direct flights to Brussels from India. Cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai. Kolkata, Kochi and Bangalore have provisions of direct flights to Brussels. While there are some airlines that would have layovers or might need connecting flights, usually that's not a problem.
The major Indian cities provide non-stop flights to Brussels, making travelling favourable and seamless. Airlines such as Emirates, Etihad Airways, Air India, Lufthansa, KLM Royal Dutch, Air France, Gulf Air, have frequent flights connecting Brussels and India. Booking your flight tickets to Brussels from India should be done well in advance though, if you wish to get good flight deals. It would be even better if you peruse through online for flight as well as accommodation deals. Options from luxury stay to hostels are available. As long as you book your hotel in Brussels before leaving India, it would be favourable.
By Rail
Many travellers visiting Brussels are often travelling across Europe. The connectivity of the European countries is immaculate, making travel easier. Even for Brussels, you can take flights to Germany, Netherlands or France, have some good time exploring those countries and then take a train to Brussels. A majority of the big European cities are connected by rails. Not only would the trip be amusing as the scenic views are worth all the duration, but this way, you can save up as well. Multiple rail options are available from Munich, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and more.
About Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines S.A., which is the national flag carrier of Greece, is also the largest airline in the country with respect to the number of passengers carried, fleet size and the slew of destinations it serves. The airline operates scheduled as well as charter services from two of its Greek destinations, Athens and Thessaloniki, to all the major destinations spread across Europe and the Middle East. It operates from three main hubs at Athens International airport in Athens, Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus and Macedonia International Airport in Thessaloniki. Some of its focus cities include Chania International Airport, Rhodes International Airport, Heraklion International Airport and Kalamata International Airport. Aegean Airlines also operates from a few more Greek airports, but they are mainly on a seasonal basis. The airline has its headquarters at Kifisia, a suburb located in Athens. Aegean Airlines joined the Star Alliance in 2010.
In 2012, Aegean Airlines announced that it was acquiring Olympic Air, formed to be part of the Greek national carrier, previously known as Olympic Airways. The buyout was eventually approved by the European Commission the following year, and the airline came into existence as Aegean Airlines' new subsidiary. They are part of the same company while functioning as individual entities. Additionally, the airline also announced to be part of Cyprus Airways' last stage of privatisation tender. Cyprus Airways, the flag carrier of Cyprus was privatised, but soon, the airline followed for bankruptcy. Following this, Aegean Airlines intervened and established a hub at Larnaca International Airport, the official international gateway of Cyprus. With this, Aegean Airlines expanded its operations and initiated scheduled flights to and from the island country to a slew of international destinations. The airline was founded in 1987 and commenced operations as a VIP/business air operation which only catered to a handful of important people. It also worked as an air ambulance service. However, from 1992, Aegean Airlines received the license to be an independent air operator by the Greek country. This was followed by the airline's move to expand its fleet and acquire more jet flights to travel the world. While it was founded as Aegean Aviation, the airline rebranded itself as Aegean Airlines, which was adopted as the airline started scheduled passenger services in 1999. The airline's first commercial flights flew from Athens to Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Crete.
The airline has acquired many airlines and private aircraft ventures since its inception. They acquired Air Greece in 1999 and by 2001, also merged with Cronus Airlines, while they functioned as one airline. In 2005, Aegean Airlines also partnered with Lufthansa to offer its loyal customers with new mileage plans such as its Miles and More programme. By 2006, the airline further entered a deal with TAP Air Portugal and eventually also announced a cooperation deal with Brussels Airlines. However, Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air stated their intention to merge and form one operator to work under the Star Alliance network. However, in 2011, the European Commission stated that they would be blocking the deal between the two airlines, citing anti-competition issues. The commissions basically believed that there would be a quasi-monopoly in Greece's transport market, following the merger with Olympic Air.
Further on this, the commission added that the merger would also result in Aegean Airlines hiking up their flight ticket prices to cater to the Greek and European passengers who are flying from Athens. There would not be any airline strong enough to match the sufficient size of fleet and operations that Aegean Airlines can accommodate. Eventually, the airline came up with a solution that enabled the merger to take place.
Theodoros Vassilakis is the current owner of Aegean Airlines as with a whopping stake of 34.17 per cent. Meanwhile, other partners who have a considerable share in the airline include Ainesco Enterprises Company Limited and Siana Enterprise Company Limited which hold 9.48 per cent respectively along with Konstantakopoulos Achilleas which has 6.39 per cent stakes in Aegean Airlines.
Fleet size of Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines currently owns and operates an all-Airbus fleet with 51 aircraft in total. The aircraft in service includes one Airbus A319-100, 35 Airbus A320-200s, five Airbus A3320neo and Airbus A321neo and ten Airbus A321-200s. Additionally, the airline also operates a Learjet 60, which is predominantly used for VIP and business purposes. It's mainly for executive travel and flies in a non-scheduled flight basis. With respect to fleet expansion, Aegean Airlines followed two strategies, one to eliminate all turboprop aircraft from its fleet and second, to place larger orders for Airbus A320 and A321 as a means to transform its fleet to an all-Airbus one. They managed to achieve the same as, by 2004, the airline got rid of all its turboprop planes. Similarly, the airline also transformed its fleet to acquire and sustain the only aircraft. In 2010, the airline became the first one to commit to upgrade its aircraft from Airbus family and install FANS-B+ datalink system that the aircraft manufacturing company introduced. Further, they enhanced the cabin classes of their aircraft by installing better-reclining seats across all its fleet. Aegean Airlines does plan to expand its fleet to accommodate 70 aircraft instead of its current standing of 51 aircraft.
Baggage Allowance
Aegean Airlines has enabled baggage allowance keeping the global standards and the fleet's strength in mind. Depending on the cabin class and the ticket type of the passenger, the baggage allowance policy is altered. Currently, the airline allows one piece of baggage which can weigh up to 23 kg for passengers travelling from the economy flex class. Economy GoLight cabin has no checked baggage allowance from the airlines as it majorly caters to short-haul flights and is mostly used in the domestic routes. Passengers of the business class are allowed to carry two pieces of baggage that can weigh up to 32 kg each. It is essential for the passenger to not carry a weight that exceeds the stated bracket. The baggage dimension for all the bags should be 158 cm and not more. Special reservations are made for passengers who are part of Aegean Airlines' Miles+Bonus Gold and Star Gold Alliance. Rules for cabin baggage include one hand baggage that should weigh no more than 8 kg with a dimension of 56 cm X 45 cm X 25 cm. Meanwhile, the business class passengers can carry one piece of baggage that cannot exceed 13 kg with the same dimension as mentioned for economy class.
In-flight services
Aegean Airlines' in-flight services are worth all the money spent on the ticket. With its Airbus-fleet that has the best of aircraft models, the interiors are made to bring forth comfort and convenience for the passengers. The seats are much better with recline options and more legroom. Other in-flight services also include in-flight entertainment systems for international or long-haul flights along with delicious in-flight meals. The flight attendants are also quite friendly and accommodating.
Popular routes and top cities of Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines, as of 2019, caters to about 94 destinations in its domestic routes and international routes. The airline majorly only flies to European countries and a handful of Middle East. As one of the top European airlines, the connectivity of Aegean Airlines is immaculate with a slew of tourist destinations. Cyprus and Greece remain its biggest market while other destinations include the top financial places on the continent. The airline has terminated a handful of cities in Russia and Ukraine. They also have seasonal flights that cater to many places during their peak season. Some of the important cities for Aegean Airlines are Yerevan, Vienna, Brussels Airport, Sofia, Zagreb, Larnaca, Prague, Copenhagen, Cairo, Tallinn, Paris, Nice, Strasbourg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Mykonos, Santorini, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Dublin, Tel Aviv, Milan, Pisa, Rome, Venice, Amman, Beirut, Marrakesh, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Lisbon, Moscow, Warsaw, Lisbon, Bucharest, Jeddah, Ibiza, Madrid, Stockholm, Geneva, Zurich, Istanbul, Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Why travel by Aegean Airlines?
Aegean Airlines has sustained a reputation in the airlines industry as one of the best carriers for tourists who wish to explore more of Greece and other European countries. Unlike some of the big players in the market, Aegean Airlines further connects to East Europe destinations. While their domestic route and international route connectivity are worth mentioning, the other services provided by the airline is what makes it stay ahead of the game.
With Aegean Airlines, passengers can do web check-ins to avoid the long airport queues. In fact, there are provisions to purchase extra baggage on the website. Further details regarding baggage allowance can be understood on the official website of Aegean Airlines. The airline's website is up to date with all necessary information ranging from flight status of the passenger to Aegean Airlines' flight schedules. In fact, passengers can also make airport shuttle bookings on the website. Additional perks are reserved for passengers who are members of the Star Alliance frequent flyers programme. The airline does cater to the needs of the passengers and ensures to offer the best airport and in-flight services.
