Hainan Airlines Expands Brussels Network

Hainan Airlines will deepen its European footprint this winter with the launch of nonstop flights between Chongqing, China, and Brussels Airport (BRU), which will become its fourth route to the Belgian capital. 

The service will begin Nov. 22, operating three times per week using Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The new link joins Hainan's existing routes from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

“Hainan has developed Brussels into its largest European hub,” says Léon Verhallen, director of aviation development at Brussels Airport Company. “With the launch of Chongqing, Hainan will operate daily to Beijing, four times weekly to Shanghai, three times weekly to Shenzhen and three times weekly to Chongqing.”

According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, capacity between Belgium and mainland China totals around 11,300 two-way weekly seats, with Hainan controlling roughly 77% of the market. Juneyao Airlines also operates Shanghai Pudong–Brussels flights.

The new Chongqing service strengthens Brussels' role as a European gateway to western China—one of the country's fastest-growing industrial and logistics regions. The launch comes as access to Russian airspace continues to give Chinese airlines an operational edge over European rivals, allowing shorter and more fuel-efficient flight paths. As a result, Chinese operators now account for more than 82% of seat capacity between China and Europe, excluding Russia, up from 59% in 2019, before the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Aviation Week at Routes World 2025 in Hong Kong on Sept. 22, Yin Xiaohua, the general manager of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, said the airport group is prioritizing European markets. In the first half of 2025, international passenger traffic rose 36% year on year to 1.06 million, with foreign travelers accounting for 30% of the total. 

As of September, the airport had 35 international or regional passenger routes and 16 international or regional cargo routes. The growth comes after the airport opened its Terminal 3B earlier this year, creating the first four-runway, four-terminal operation in central and western China. The expansion boosts annual capacity to 80 million passengers, 580,000 aircraft movements and 1.2 million tons of cargo throughput by 2030.