Back in December 2019, Singapore Airlines announced its intention to resume service to Brussels in October 2020 after what would have been a roughly 17-year absence from the Belgian capital. That obviously never happened due to Covid-19, but it was clear Brussels remained a high priority addition. Finally, in September 2023, SIA announced (again) that Brussels would once again be part of the SIA network from April 2024.
Since I love being part of inaugural festivities, I knew I had to join the first post-Covid SIA inaugural. I’ve done new aircraft inaugurals (A380 in 2007, Scoot 787 in Feb 2015, SIA official 787 launch to Osaka), but this was my first time doing a new route inaugural. To get the full inaugural experience, I decided to take the inaugural flights in both directions, leaving me around 5h in Brussels, less the time for immigration formalities. It was a tiring experience, but I enjoyed it and came away with a decent haul of memorabilia from the return flight.
I won’t review the flights themselves in this post, but focus more on the inaugural experience. I did experience the enhanced Premium Economy in-flight product on the way to Brussels, so I’ll be doing a full review on that soon. Meanwhile, join me in reliving the Singapore Airlines’ Brussels launch!
Booking
For cost reasons, I booked two separate one-way tickets for this trip. There was no Business Saver on the SIN-BRU inaugural – certainly not for lowly KrisFlyer Elite Gold like me – so I settle for a paid Premium Economy ticket. SIA tickets – especially one way – out of Singapore are expensive, so I opted to originate from KUL instead. I booked a Premium Economy Flexi as it was the only fare bucket available when I made the booking. I had to position myself to KUL of course, and since I was travelling with just a carry-on I opted to do a same-plane turnaround in KUL. The benefit of a same-plane turnaround is that if the outbound from SIN is delayed, the return from KUL would be affected as well. It removes any risk of a delay ex-SIN resulting in missing the KUL-SIN flight.
For the return SQ303 BRU-SIN, I booked it a month after the launch announcement and was lucky to still snag a Business Saver award back to Singapore.
SQ304 Singapore to Brussels
The travel day did not start well, with a last minute aircraft swap and delay for my positioning flight to KUL, and subsequent KUL-SIN flight. The initially communicated delay was 40min, but it ended up being far longer. It wasn’t bad enough to put the connection to BRU at risk, but it did cut my transit in Singapore by half. When my KUL-SIN flight arrived back in SIN, the BRU flight was amongst the list of flights whose passengers were directed to proceed for “immediate boarding”. It wasn’t close to enough to departure time yet to warrant a ground staff escort though.
As it turned out, there was no point heading to the gate so quickly. Boarding had not yet commenced, and it was also quite clear they were ZERO gate activities to mark the inaugural. The fact that the gate had been changed a couple of hours before departure had already been an indicator.
The only activity at the gate were Belgians from some government or business association. They had prepared a magazine and goodie bag which was given out to passengers as we boarded. Inside the bag were some gummies and sweets.
Honestly, the lack of fanfare for the inaugural to Brussels was disgraceful and reflected badly on Singapore Airlines. Considering this was the first “new” route since Covid, it would have been a good opportunity to cap off the incredible pace of growth from the darkest days of Covid. I know many other enthusiasts who did the inaugural were rather angry as well.
To my even greater disappointment, there was no water cannon salute on arrival. This should be the minimum for any inaugural as long as local authorities allow it.
In hindsight, I should have expected this. When I did the official inauguration of 787-10 services on the first flight to KIX (not counting familiarisation flights to KUL and BKK), there had also been zero fanfare ex-SIN. Instead, all the festivities were ex-KIX. As it turned out, the BRU inaugural mirrored that exactly. The flight itself was pretty a standard long-haul.
SQ303 Brussels to Singapore
I had actually hesitated whether to do the immediate turnaround or spend a day in London/Paris/Amsterdam and fly back 24h later from one of those points. In the end, it was the right choice to do the immediate turnaround and return on the inaugural SQ303. This was where all the fanfare was, and I think the ground activities and memorabilia was enough to placate me and other enthusiasts who had been let down by SIA on the SQ304 inaugural.
Upon arrival in Brussels, I cleared immigration fairly quickly. Along the way, I met SIA’s station manager in Brussels, an old acquaintance from my time in SIA. I caught the train into Brussels for a quick walk and also to shovel down some waffles. Returning to Brussels Airport, my ears quickly picked up the unmistakable sound of a lion dance performance. The sound could only be for one reason, and it helpfully served as guide to the SIA check-in counters.
At the check-in counter, there were very clear signs welcoming passengers to the inaugural flight.
Check-in understandably was slow, even though there was only 1 group ahead of me in the Business class check-in queue.
At check-in, all passengers were handed an invitation to the gate party for SQ303.
In my need to grab a shower, and check The Loft lounge instead of the SQ-contracted Diamond Lounge, I missed the gate ceremonies. When I got to the gate, the cake had already been cut. The entertainment, food and drink were still in full swing though. There was a band playing, and waiters roving around with trays of various canapes. Drinks, including Cava, were available at the bar counter.
Just behind the counter at the boarding gate was rows of SIA-branded goodie bags. This was what I was here for. Every passenger was handed a goodie bag as we headed down the walkway to the aerobridge.
The goodie bags were a far more stronger effort from SQ (and I presume the airport operator). In the bag was a SQ bear (from 2 generations ago), tumbler, box of Neuhaus chocolate, magnet, lanyard, keychain and model plane. The latter few items all featured wording commemorating the Brussels-Singapore inaugural on 6 April 2024. A very nice set of memorabilia in all.
Onboard, the caterers (Gate Gourmet) had also left a small box of Guylian chocolates on the Business class seat consoles. I assume these were for business class passengers only. A nice touch, even if Guylian isn’t exactly high quality.
As we taxiied out from the gate area, firetrucks were lined up for the water cannon salute that had been missing on arrival. That fleeting few seconds were probably the most satisfying moments of the inaugural experience.
The flight itself was pretty much a standard long-haul SQ business class flight, though I found the crew to be a bit weak compared to the group that had taken me to JFK and back a few weeks prior. To my surprise, Changi Airport had arranged some a photo spot and some pins showcasing kaya toast for arriving passengers. I did find it quite amusing how the CAG staff were going “welcome to Singapore!’ to all the clearly foreign passengers ahead of me, and when they saw me, the person closest awkwardly struggled to find the right words to say me (being obviously a local).
Even Changi Airport put in more effort in Singapore than SQ did. A really poor showing from SQ.
Post-trip Thoughts
I’ve made it quite clear throughout this post that SIA did a terrible job of marking this route launch in Singapore. I have little doubt that the events in Brussels, and possibly the goodie bag too, were heavily sponsored by the airport operator. It was a disappointing lack of show from SIA, and only hardcore enthusiasts like me who did both legs would have been satisfied eventually. For those that had flown on the SIN-BRU sector hoping for a fun inaugural, they would have departed SIN disappointed and remained so. I understand that hardcore aviation enthusiasts were a minuscule portion of SIA’s customers on the flights. Still, it wouldn’t have cost SIA much of their what-I-expect-to-be sizeable profit to create some sense of occasion.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this and the 787 KIX inaugural, it’s that ex-SIN fanfare is a question mark, while ex-station it’s almost guaranteed. Considering I’m now belatedly looking at the upcoming Gatwick launch, my focus is the return LGW-SIN flight rather than SIN-LGW.
Conclusion
I had the chance to travel on Singapore Airlines’ Brussels inaugural flights in both directions, and overall it was a fun experience. While the SIN-BRU inaugural was a huge disappointment, the gate activities and goodie bag from BRU-SIN were just about made up for it. I also had the opportunity to experience the enhanced Premium Economy offerings, so killed two birds with one stone. I’m now working to try getting on the London Gatwick return inaugural in June, so hopefully things pan out.
Lastly, a big congratulations to Singapore Airlines and Brussels Airport on the new nonstop link!