Brussels Airlines and Neckermann/Thomas Cook set sail for the sun on the same day, October 28

That's great news for Belgian tourists, who, according to a recent study, want more freedom and certainty when they go on vacation. Thanks to the partnership, they will be able to choose from more than 6,500 holiday flights on Brussels Airlines to 51 sunny destinations, 26 of which are new to the Brussels Airlines network. This gives them more options for when to leave. Customers of Neckermann/Thomas Cook will get more services and more comfort, like making sure families sit together and letting them bring 15% more luggage.

Neckermann/Thomas Cook and Brussels Airlines will work together to offer more than a million seats to places in the sun. The partnership makes a big difference in how often flights go to places like:

From October 28, Tenerife will be flown at least once a day all year, instead of twice a week as it is now.

In the winter, there will be twice as many flights to Gran Canaria, and in the summer, there will be six times as many.

In the summer, there will be 9 times more flights to Heraklion (Kreta).

In the summer, Brussels Airlines will fly to Mallorca 12 times a week, up from 3 times a week in 2017.

The partnership will grow even more next summer, when Brussels Airlines will add new destinations in Greece, Spain, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, among others.

Because we work together with Thomas Cook Belgium, Brussels Airlines can offer all of the most popular places to go on vacation. This is the biggest growth our airline has had in its 15-year history. It lets us offer our guests a wide range of sunny places to visit, including Cabo Verde, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and Egypt. Next summer, we'll keep making this network bigger. The more than 3,500 people who work for Neckermann, Thomas Cook, and Pegase are excited to meet their customers.

Recent market research(1) has shown that modern travellers want more certainty and more options when it comes to where they want to go and when they want to leave. This will be true of the new offer that comes from the partnership. Because there are more flights, people can take longer vacations, short trips, and long weekends. The flight schedules are set up so that most destinations can be reached in the morning or in the afternoon, and the customer can choose whether to fly back at noon or in the evening. Since Brussels Airlines has scheduled flights, the time of the flight is known from the moment the reservation is made.

The study showed that travellers want to know ahead of time that they will be able to sit together on the plane as a family. On top of that, they want to be able to bring more bags. This need is met with the help of the partnership with Brussels Airlines. The airline's b.family package makes sure that families sit together, and with Brussels Airlines, travellers can bring 15% more luggage (23 kg + 12 kg hand luggage) than they can now (20 kg checked baggage + 10 kg hand luggage). Customers of Neckermann, Thomas Cook, and Pegase can also check in online and choose their seats, use the airport lounges of Brussels Airlines (if they are Pegase customers), get priority boarding for families with small children, and get healthy snacks from Foodmaker, Belgian chocolate, and fries.

With this partnership, we're meeting the needs of customers both now and in the future: they want more flexibility and more certainty. Flexibility means you have more options for where to go and when to leave, and you can change flights and destinations for free up to 4 weeks before you leave, or even up to 24 hours before you leave if you choose our Flex&Protect option. We can be more sure of things because Brussels Airlines doesn't make stops along the way. We also make sure that family members sit together and leave at the same time. Also, our customers can count on the many people who work at the airport and can bring much more luggage. We are responding to a trend in the tourism industry as a whole: the customer wants to choose how he travels and expects great service. This is something we can now offer with Brussels Airlines and our 2500 summer employees, from a dream vacation to service at the destination.

Employees and planes from Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium

Because of the partnership, Brussels Airlines will have a lot more flights. Because of this, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium's 160 flight crew members (cockpit and cabin) will start working for Brussels Airlines at the end of October. Two Airbus A320 planes from Thomas Cook Airlines are also joining the fleet of Brussels Airlines. This brings the number of Airbus A320 family planes in the fleet up from 31 to 33.