Final Sukhoi Superjet 100 flight for Brussels Airlines

On Monday 7 January 2019 Brussels Airlines operated its last Sukhoi Superjet 100 flight ever.

Less than two years after the Belgian airline awarded a wet-lease contract to CityJet, it is terminating the wet-lease contract for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 with the Irish airline.

Brussels Airlines introduced the regional jet in March 2017 to replace the Avro RJ100 on some thinner routes as the Avro was about to be phased out in October 2017.

 

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 operated Brussels Airlines flights to several European destinations including Birmingham, Bologna, Stockholm Bromma, Edinburgh, Krakow and Milan Malpensa.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100, although getting some good reviews from passengers for being a comfortable aircraft, turned out to be not as reliable as anticipated by Brussels Airlines. Furthermore, a lack of available spare aircraft parts forced Brussels Airlines to cancel several flights. As a result, the airline decided to terminate its contract for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 with CityJet and to gradually phase out the regional jetduring the winter 2018/2019 season.

 

Today’s final Brussels Airlines flight operated with a Sukhoi Superjet 100 was flight SN2254 from Billund, Denmark to Brussels. The flight was operated with EI-FWB.

During the wet-lease contract between Brussels Airlines and CityJet, the Irish airline operated a fleet of six Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft:

 

Aircraft type Registration Livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWB CityJet livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWC CityJet livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWD Brussels Airlines livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWE Brussels Airlines livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWF Brussels Airlines livery
Sukhoi Superjet 100 EI-FWG Brussels Airlines livery

 

When the wet-lease contract for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 was terminated and the aircraft type was gradually phased out of the Brussels Airlines flight operations, two aircraft (EI-FWD and EI-FWE) were flown to Shannon, Ireland for storage. Two other aircraft (EI-FWC and EI-FWG) were ferried to Venice, Italy (where SuperJet International – a company that was established to sell the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and the Sukhoi Business Jet –  is based). EI-FWF was ferried to Dublin. EI-FWB, the aircraft that operated the final flight, will also be ferried to Dublin on Tuesday 8 January 2019.

The end of a (small) era for Brussels Airlines and the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

7 January 2019