Primera Air will start transatlantic routes from Brussels Airport to the US airports of Newark, Boston and Washington Dulles in Spring 2019.
The low-cost carrier’s daily Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft flights will start from Brussels to Newark on 9 May while a three-weekly service to Washington Dulles will start on 2 June and four-weekly route to Boston will begin on 4 June.
Primera Air will be the first carrier to operate long-haul low-cost services from Brussels Airport.
The fast-expanding airline already flies from Boston and Newark to London Stansted and Paris Charles de Gaulle while a London Stansted-Washington service launches tomorrow.
Primera Air chief commercial officer, Anastasija Visnakova said: “Our mission is to make expensive transatlantic travel a history and we are glad to bring low fare, long-haul flights to Brussels.
“It will give an opportunity for local travelers to fly to the US and Canada in a more affordable way as well as bring more North American travelers to Brussels.”
Brussels Airport chief executive officer, Arnaud Feist said: “With their low-fare services, Primera Air confirms again that Brussels Airport offers the widest choice of airlines for all passengers. A new route for our airport is Boston, home to many pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and also a key industry in our country.
“We also look forward to being the gateway to Europe and Belgium for an increasing number of American visitors.”
The Brussels move follows a difficult period as last month Primera Air announced it was to stop all European short-haul routes from Birmingham Airport as part of a capacity reduction as said demand for tickets has been slow.
Flights to Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona from Birmingham will be cancelled on 3 September and services to Alicante, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Reykjavik and Malaga will cease on 29 October.
In June, Primera Air suspended services from Birmingham to New York’s Newark Airport and Toronto. This was due to the late arrival of long-haul A321neo aircraft from Airbus, although the Toronto route never began operations.
Primera Air said it will look into whether it can bring back long-haul services from Birmingham in 2019 and it will be taking a decision early next year.
In addition, a London Stansted to Malaga route has been decreased to five flights per week and a London Stansted to Alicante route will be cancelled as of 1 October.
Primera Air is Iceland-owned, but based in Riga, Latvia with a Danish operating licence. It already operates a number of different bases including Copenhagen, Billund, Stockholm-Arlanda, Gothenburg, and Keflavik in Reykjavík.
