SABAIR AIRLINES (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (1987-1997). Sabair is established at Toowoomba in 1987 by Lionel Freedman to offer scheduled flights to Brisbane. Revenue operations begin with a Cessna 402C and a Grumman GA-7 Cougar.
Traffic and financial figures become available in 1991 and show that, in 1990, a total of 4,500 passengers are carried. Revenues total A$340,000 and a net A$40,000 profit is earned.
Bookings climb to 5,100 in 1991 and a net A$100,000 profit is generated on revenues of A$430,000.
Enplanements in 1992 reach 5,400 and revenues are A$480,000. Net gain moves to A$130,000.
A Partenavia P-68B is delivered in 1993 and operations continue apace in 1994. With the schedule increased to 15 weekly flights, plans are made to add a second Cessna 402C early in the new year.
The new Cessna is duly delivered in February 1995. A marketing agreement is signed with Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd. in 1996 and a third Cessna 402C is acquired. Unable to maintain economic viability, the company is forced to shut its doors in December 1997. Its routes and services pass to competing Toowoomba-based Eastland Air (Pty.), Ltd.
SABANG MERAUKE RAYA AIR CHARTER (SMAC): Jalan Imam Bonjol No. 59, Medan, North Sumatra, 20157, Indonesia; Phone 62 (61) 537 760; Fax 62 (61) 538 643; Code SMC; Year Founded 1969. SMAC is formed at Medan in 1969 to offer charter service in North Sumatra as a joint venture between the new concern and Malaysian Air Charter, Ltd. (MAC). In 1972, SMAC is split off from MAC and becomes a freestanding Indonesian entity. Nonscheduled lightplane services continue.
SMAC begins scheduled replacement service on several routes conceded to it by Merpati Nusantara Airlines early in 1979. Regional passenger and cargo charter and contract service flights also continue to be undertaken.
The fleet by 1985 comprises 3 IPTN (CASA) NC-212-100 Aviocars, 3 Piper PA-31-310 Navajos, 3 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, and 1 Piper PA-23 Aztec; except for removal of the Pipers, no significant equipment changes are made at Managing Director Toto Iman De-wanto’s carrier during the next five years.
Points linked to Medan throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s include Aekgodang, Banda Aceh, Dumai, Gunungaitoli, Lhokseumawe, Meula-boh, Pekanbaru, Prapat, Sabang, Sibolga, Sinabang, and Tapaktuan.
In 1991, Dewanto’s fleet includes 5 IPTN (CASA) C-212-100 Aviocars. That number remains steady as operations continue in 1992-1996; however, as traffic demands increase, two Fokker F.27-200s are also placed into service. By 1997-1999, the fleet includes the 2 Fokkers, 4 Aviocars, 1 Navajo and 1 PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, and 2 Islanders.
SABENA BELGIAN WORLD AIRLINES (SOCIETE ANONYME [S. A.] BELGE D’EXPLOITATION DE LA NAVIAGATION AERI-ENNE): 2 Ave. E. Mounierlaan, Brussels, B-1200, Belgium; Phone 32 (2) 723-3111; Fax 32 (2) 723-8399; Http://www. sabena. com; Code SN; Year Founded 1923. Business interests in Belgium and the nation’s prize colony, the Congo, combine capital on May 23, 1923, to form Sabena as successor to the nation’s first carrier, Syndicat National pour l’Etude des Transports Aeriens, S. A. (SNETA), founded in 1919. Initial equipment comprises only 14 aircraft: 1 Farman F-50P Goliath, 4 Bleriot-Spad 33s, 1 Ansaldo A300C, 1 de Havilland DH 4, 4 DH 9s, and 3 Rumpler C. IVs. Brussels to Lympe via Ostend services open immediately with a DH 9C mail flight piloted by Capt. Albert Van Cotthem. Plans are undertaken for route expansion and fleet upgrade.
In May 1924, the new state carrier takes delivery of its first Handley Page W.8e trimotor; it is followed by four more license-built by Societe Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aeronautiques, S. A. (SABCA) and known as “Hamiltons.” Employing these, together with the older planes, the company on July 14 launches Rotterdam to Basel service via Brussels. Another frequency is extended from Brussels to Amsterdam and Basel via Strasbourg.
On February 12, 1925, the W.8e Princess Marie-Jose piloted by Belgian World War I ace Edmond Thieffry, with two crew, departs Brussels on a proving flight to the Belgian Congo. In April, Sabena takes delivery of the first of 13 SABCA-modified W.8es, the W.8f, which is a standard aircraft with a third engine added forward of the cockpit. Following a 75 hr. 51 min. (air time) voyage over 51 days, 5,077 miles, and 20 stops, the intrepid Thieffry arrives at Leopoldville on April 3.
Meanwhile, on March 9, a Breguet 19A2 departs Brussels for a flight to Leopoldville via Cairo; the mission is accomplished on March 30 in seven stages. Having been reconfigured to W.8f standard upon its return from Africa in April, the Princess Marie-Jose, piloted by Leopold Roger and with nine other passengers, makes a second Leopoldville flight during late summer and early fall.
Brussels to London Handley-Page W.8b service begins on May 1, 1926. The only commercial transport ever designed and built in Belgium is the SABCA S-2, a four-passenger, high-wing monoplane delivered to Sabena in December.
During 1927, two Fokker F-IIs are acquired from KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.). They enter service between Brussels and Antwerp. In the Congo on December 14, a route is started between Luebo and Tchikapa. Flights begin from Luebo to Lusembo on April 17, 1928.
During the remainder of the year and in 1929, a series of airfields are built across the Congo to support Sabena flights. DH-50 and HP W.8bs open several additional Congolese routes, including the major internal Boma-Leopoldville-Elisabethville line.
The first 30 ordered Fokker F-VII/Sms join the fleet and the initial Belgium-Congo airmail service is inaugurated in April 1930. On the 14th of the same month, 5-nights-per-week Fokker F-Vnb/3m Brussels-London airmail is started.
Systemwide, approximately 8,000 people are carried on the year.
Seven Fokker trimotors are ferried to the Congo in early 1931. In Europe on May 1, daily Fokker F-VIIb/3m service is opened Brussels-Copenhagen and Malmo and London-Malmo via Antwerp; a frequency to Berlin is started in 1932.
Flights continue apace in 1933-1934. On June 4 of the latter year, the 18 passenger Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM-73 trimotor makes its maiden flight and is ordered by the Belgian carrier.
On February 23, 1935, chief pilot Prosper Cocquyt pilots a Fokker F-VU/3m Brussels-Leopoldville on the first regularly scheduled service from Belgium to the African colony. The multistop journey requires 56 flying hours over 5.5 days. On March 20, an F-VII/3m crashes near Bol-ogo in the Congo; Governor General Renard, his wife, and five others are killed. By summer, four Savoia-Marchetti S-73s are received.
These are employed to inaugurate Baltic Air Express service from London and Paris to Malmo via Brussels, Hamburg, and Copenhagen. They are also introduced on flights from Brussels to Ostend via Lille and from London to Ostend, Knocke, and Le Zoute. In November, in pool with Regie Air Afrique, S. A., Sabena offers, by flying the Congo stretch, an every-two-weeks mail service from Europe to Elisabethville via Tripoli and Kano. In December, an SM-73 crashes at Tatsfield in Kent, England.
Flying the line in only four days, the carrier’s Savoia-Marchetti S-73/3ms enter service on the trans-Africa Brussels to Leopoldville route in October 1936.
Four Westland Wessex join the fleet in 1937. On January 27, an SM-73 crashes near Oran, Algeria (12 dead). During the year, SABCA builds seven more SM-73s under license. These are employed to replace Fokker F-VIIb/3ms on the Brussels to Elisabethville service. An SM-73 crashes near Ostend on November 17; 11 are killed, including 5 from the Grand Ducal family of Heise bei Rhein.
Six Junkers Ju-52/3ms and three trimotor SM-83s join the fleet in 1938. On November 6, the SM-83s assume the Brussels to Congo service, reducing the time between Belgium and Leopoldville to 3 1/2 days or 24-hrs. flying time.
Sabena’s fleet at the outbreak of World War II in 1939 comprises 5 Ju-52/3ms and 11 SM-73s/83s, plus 2 Douglas DC-3s registered in April.
The year’s enplanements total 34,100.
As the German spring invasion of Western Europe begins on May 10, 1940, service on Sabena’s European routes is suspended. Four SM-73s find their way into RAF No. 271 Squadron while three others and both DC-3s find their way to No. 24 Squadron. During the fighting on May 11, two SM-83s and a DC-3 are shot down over Merville, France; the fleet remainder is sent back to England.
In June, the last DC-3 and six SM-73s/83s are authorized to depart the U. K. for the Belgian Congo via Algeria. By the time of their arrival, Vichy is in control of the French colony. On August 27, four SM-73s are taken over at Oran and two SM-83s and the DC-3 are captured at Algiers; all seven aircraft are passed to the Italians, with the Douglas eventually assigned to the Regia Aeronautica.
In the Congo, the seven local F-VIIb/3ms, four Westland Wessex, and six Ju-52/3ms are employed in support of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). Operating as an independent Sabena division, they launch a weekly Takoradi-Cairo link via Lagos, Douala, Libeng, Stanleyville, Juba, and Khartoum in October.
The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)-supported Takoradi-Cairo route is halted at Juba in May 1941 and increased in frequency to twice weekly, the Juba-Cairo sector is flown by the British carrier’s flying boats.
Sabena service is opened from the Gold Coast-Cairo in 1942 via Lagos, Bangui, Stanleyville, Khartoum and, after November 26 when that is terminated, from Lagos-Leopoldville. Meanwhile on November 3, the Takoradi-Juba service adds Entebbe as a stop. The African fleet is increased in 1943 with the delivery of Lockheed L-14s and L-18s from the U. S. On July 20, the Takoradi-Juba service, flown under British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) contract, is again extended to Cairo. During the summer, an L-18 is captured by German forces; handed over to Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. (DLH), it enters German airline service on August 6.
In October 1944, L-18s inaugurate Lisbon-Johannesburg flights via Leopoldville. On V-E Day, the carrier is flying a 20,000-mile African route network. Services from Brussels to Leopoldville are restored in July 1945 and flights from Brussels to London (Croydon) begin again on October 23. By year’s end, routes are restarted to Paris, Stockholm, and various other European capitals.
The first DC-4s join the fleet in late spring 1946 and one of the four-engine Douglas transports arrives at New York (LGA) via Shannon and Gander on July 7, marking the first Brussels to U. S. commercial flight by the Belgian company.
A C-47 with three crew and four passengers fails its initial climb away from Haren Airport at Brussels on September 17 and crashes (one dead). The next day, a DC-4 with 7 crew and 37 passengers crashes at Dead Wolf Brook, 35 km. SW of Gander, Newfoundland, while on initial approach in bad weather (27 dead). The latter tragedy is recalled in Frank Tibbo’s Charlie Baker George (Jesperson Press, 1993).
The last of 10,665 DC-3s built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in California is delivered to the carrier on March 21, 1947. Regularly scheduled Brussels-New York DC-4 flights start on June 4. During the summer, Sabena becomes the first European airline to receive and place into service the DC-6, which thereafter flies a 15-hr. service to the Congo and 24-hr. service to Johannesburg, both from Brussels. On July 23, DC-6s open a new Brussels-London frequency via Copenhagen, following it up with DC-6 flights to New York, beginning in August.
Europe’s first Convair CV-240s are ordered in 1948. The first Brussels to New York all-cargo service begins on February 20. M. Gilbert Perier becomes president and his first year is tragic.
Coming in from Brussels in thick fog on March 3, a DC-3, the last one built that had been delivered to the airline just the year before and with 3 crew and 19 passengers, crashes at London’s Heathrow Airport (20 dead).
A DC-4 with 7 crew and 25 passengers is destroyed in a fiery landing at Magazini, in the Congo, on May 12 (31 dead).
Another 20 die when an L-18, en route from Costermanville to Elis-abethville in the Congo, disappears on September 1; its wreckage is found 3 days later and there are no survivors. During the summer and fall, a cooperative roundtrip route into the Belgian Congo from Kenya is operated with East African Airways Corporation (EAAC), employing the Belgian line’s L-18s.
The first CV-240s are placed on the carrier’s European frequencies in 1949. On April 6, Sabena is given exclusive rights over all regularly scheduled services to and within the Congo, acquiring two local independents, Aeromas, S. A. and Air Congo (1), as a result.
Following closure of the Congo joint venture at the end of the second quarter due to low ridership, the three L-18s employed on that service are sold to East African Airways Corporation (EAAC).
En route to Brussels on December 18, a DC-3 crashes just after takeoff from Paris (eight dead).
On August 21, 1950, in cooperation with the Belgian Post Office, the company establishes the world’s first helicopter mail service, employing Bell 47Ds; the experimental operation is flown from Brussels to Turn-hout via Antwerp and Liege. Flights begin from New York City to Germany on November 3 via Brussels.
North Atlantic enplanements, meanwhile, are 4,000 for the year.
The first DC-6Bs are ordered on May 12, 1951. The pilot of a DC-3, with two other cockpit crew aboard, loses control after an engine takes fire and crashes near Gao, Mali, on July 24; there are no survivors.
Flights to Stuttgart commence in October. North Atlantic boardings double to 8,000.
On February 4, 1952, the propeller of a C-47A with 4 crew and 12 passengers fails in flight, cuts cables, and causes a loss of control that subsequently forces the aircraft to smash into the ground at Kikwit, in the Congo; there are no survivors.
With the addition of a Sikorsky S-55, Maastricht is added to the helicopter mail route. Transatlantic bookings rise to 13,000.
On April 9, 1953, it is announced that the company will open scheduled passenger helicopter service at the end of the summer linking Brussels and Liege with Cologne and Brussels with Saarbrucken via Luxembourg. The first of two DC-6Bs to join the fleet during these 12 months arrives on April 7. Sabena begins its summer fixed-wing schedule on May 5 by offering first-class services at standard fares.
On June 16, the carrier promises to open international service on September 1. On July 7, the first international helicopter flight from the continent to the U. K. is made when an S-55 arrives at London from Brussels via Lympne, and returns. Strasbourg is added to the transatlantic network the same day.
Europe’s first scheduled intercity service begins, as promised, on September 1; four S-55s link Brussels with Rotterdam. Brussels to Bonn service begins on October 5, followed by Brussels to Lille flights five days later.
On October 14, a CV-240 with 4 crew and 40 passengers loses engine power, fails its initial climb out of Frankfurt on a flight to Brussels, and crashes at Kelsterbach, Germany; there are no survivors. It will later be determined that a heavy deposit of lead on the engine spark plugs caused them to short circuit.
On October 28, the first direct Brussels-Manchester-New York connection is made by one of the carrier’s DC-6Bs.
While on final approach to Zurich on December 19 in bad weather, a CV-240 with 3 crew and 40 passengers descends below the glide path and crashes at Kloten, 2.5 km. short of the runway (1 dead).
A DC-6 steward falls to his death on December 30 when his plane’s door unexpectedly opens over France. The year’s North Atlantic bookings rise to 19,000.
Two DC-6Cs are delivered in 1954. While airlifting pigs between London and Belgrade on June 3, a DC-3 with a crew of three Belgian nationals and a Briton, having strayed into Hungarian airspace near the Austrian border, is strafed by an unidentified MIG-15. All three Belgians are hit (the radio operator is killed), leaving copilot Douglas Wilson to land the aircraft at Graz, in the British Zone in Austria.
Railroads cut their running times from Brussels to Rotterdam, Cologne, and Lille on August 28 to compete with the Sabena helicopter service and on August 31, at the conclusion of the first year of rotarywing service, the airline reports the transport of 13,000 passengers aboard the S-55s. Transatlantic boardings dip to 18,000.
A DC-6 with 8 crew and 21 passengers, disappears near Rome on February 13, 1955, minutes after radioing that it is preparing for a routine landing; the wreck is found atop Mount Terminilla on February 21 (29 dead). On April 9, rotary-wing flights are inaugurated from Brussels to Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Duisburg and Dortmund in West
Germany. Sabena’s helicopter service boards 20,000 passengers during the year, while North Atlantic bookings soar to 23,000.
On January 28, 1956, the company announces plans for an extension of its helicopter network to Paris. Later in the year, orders are placed for Douglas DC-7Cs and North Atlantic passenger boardings ascend to 24,000.
When the DC-7Cs are placed in service in 1957, they help boost transatlantic traffic to 40,000 out of total enplanements of 686,090. Brussels to Paris helicopter frequencies are initiated on March 3 and on June 4 pooled Bristol 170 Mk. 32 vehicle-ferry service is inaugurated with Air Charter, Ltd./Channel Air Service, Ltd. between Southend, England, and Ostend. The 100,000th passenger (cumulative) is boarded aboard the helicopter service on June 15. The carrier experiences a net loss on the year, beginning a series of annual reversals that will last until 1983.
Early in 1958, three L-1049Hs are leased from Seaboard World Airlines for use during the Brussels Exhibition. Pooled flights with Malev Hungarian Airlines commence on March 17 over a route from Brussels to Budapest, via Prague.
While en route from Brussels to Leopoldville, a DC-7C with 9 crew and 56 passengers fails its climb away from an intermediate stop at Casablanca on May 18 and crashes (61 dead).
In pool with Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, Brussels-Moscow DC-7C service is launched on June 2, the first postwar flights between a nonScandinavian European capital and the seat of the Soviet government.
North Atlantic traffic reaches 59,000.
Operations in the Congo as the decade ends and the 1960s begin can only be maintained sporadically as that colony disintegrates into the civil war leading to the birth of the new nation of Zaire. At one point, the carrier’s major task is the evacuation of Belgian nationals. The airline’s first jetliner, a Boeing 707-329, is received on December 4, 1959.
The first European airline to operate the Stratoliner, Sabena places its new B-707-329 into service on January 19, 1960, with a return flight from Brussels to Leopoldville.
Just four days later, the new jetliner, back from the Congo, inaugurates the airline’s first nonstop transatlantic route from Brussels to New York. As the Congo situation continues to deteriorate through the year, the Boeing makes several evacuation flights. On one of these, it transports a single Stratoliner record of 301 people nonstop from Leopoldville to Brussels.
Brussels to Montreal service is inaugurated weekly on April 1 and a new flight reservations system is unveiled at New York on May 4
In the African colony, where elite paratroopers and other forces are now actively evacuating all Europeans from the northern and eastern Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is born on June 30. Belgian troops are now reconcentrated in the southern part of the new country, around the Anglo-Belgian Union Minire du Haut Katanga mines at Kolwezi, at the Kamina air base, and along the rail lines linking the mines to Portuguese Angola and Northern Rhodesia. On July 11, Moise Tshombe declares Katana an independent nation.
In December, weekly roundtrip frequencies are initiated to Mexico City. North Atlantic boardings fall to 49,000. These rebound to 79,000 in 1960, when systemwide bookings are 1,264,094.
The first of 10 Sud SE-210 Caravelle VINs is delivered on January 20, 1961, as a CV-440 replacement.
While on long approach to Brussels’ Zaventem Airport from a February 15 flight from Idlewild Airport, a B-707-329 with 11 crew and 61 passengers mysteriously crashes in the Belgian countryside near the destination point; there are no survivors from the crash and subsequent fire. Among the dead are 18 members of the U. S. figure skating team and 1 person killed on the ground. Although various hypotheses will be advanced, no exact cause for the carrier’s second fatal transatlantic disaster in 14 years is determined.
A large mercenary army and air force is now assembled in Katanga, while the Congo Republic’s leader, Patrice Lumumba, appeals to the UN for assistance in reintegrating the break-away province. UN peacekeepers are sent in to supervise the withdrawal of Belgian forces, which retire from all of Zaire’s provinces except south Katanga.
During the spring, two DC-4s are leased from Starways, Ltd. for use in the Congo under charter to the UN.
With 30% ownership by Sabena, the airline Air Congo is reconstituted on June 28, allowing the Belgian flag line to halt internal services in the now-independent nation. Sabena and its subsidiary, Sobelair, S. A., hold a 30% stake and under a six-year contract, the Belgian line begins to train personnel for the new Congo carrier.
On September 17, one of the Starways, Ltd. DC-4s is destroyed on the ground at Kamina Airport, Congo, by Katangan fighter aircraft. The other is now turned over to Air Congo.
Having appealed for assistance in its reintegration of Katanga first to the UN, Congo President Lumumba now turns to the Soviet Union. Moscow dispatches 10-15 Ilyushin Il-14s, with their Aeroflot Soviet Airlines titles painted over in favor of hastily applied Congolese markings. These join five DC-3s requisitioned from Air Congo in transporting 1,000 Congolese National Army troops on December 31 to Lulu-abourg, capital of Kasai province, from where they are trucked toward Katanga where their drive is halted by rebel forces.
The Congolese civil war will intensify during the remainder of the year and into the next two, particularly after the death of Patrice Lumumba.
Transatlantic bookings top 65,000, as systemwide enplanements rise to 1,178,025.
On January 8, 1962, a Caravelle with 27 aboard and en route from Tehran to Istanbul is forced by U. S.S. R. fighter planes to land in Armenia after straying across the Soviet border because of mechanical trouble. The plane’s passengers are flown to Brussels by Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, while four crewmen are left to ferry the repaired jetliner home four days later.
SE-210 service is now extended to the Middle East, supplementing European routes begun the previous year. North Atlantic boardings jump to 85,000 as additional B-707-329s become available, but systemwide, enplanements drop to 1,384,359.
The carrier moves to bolster its international network in 1963 to help make up the revenues lost with the Congo. The fleet grows to include 51 aircraft with star billing given the 9 SE-210s and 6 B-707-329s.
One of the latter is employed, beginning in March to inaugurate weekly roundtrip services on behalf of Air Congo from Leopoldville to Brussels. On April 3, a DC-6B is sold to Transair Sweden, A. B. Passenger traffic still declines, however, to 1,345,991.
The workforce stands at 9,431 in 1964. The Congolese civil war ends when President for Life Mobutu Sese Seko declares the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be Zaire.
A total of 52 Sabena aircraft fly only 811,294 passengers systemwide as efforts continue to compensate for the loss of the Congo network. Revenues are $81.39 million.
Routes are extended to Tunis, Lagos, Abidjan, and Dubrovnik in 1965 as one additional SE-210 and a B-707-329 join the fleet. Direct Brussels to Kigali flights commence and several piston services are replaced by the French-made jetliners. On May 20, a DC-6B is sold to the German Luftwaffe.
Passenger boardings top the million-mark, climbing to 1,014,751. The workforce is now 9,804.
One B-707-329 is replaced in 1966 and four B-727-129s are placed in service. As a result of the previous year’s Congo coup, most of Sabena’s property in the former colony is seized, along with its in-country funds; traffic rights to Elisabethville, since renamed Lubumbashi, are cancelled.
When Sabena aircrews strike on May 20, 30 employees are stranded in New York City, lacking funds and quarters. Charging they had not participated in the job action and that their employer has locked them out, they are forced to take odd jobs to support themselves, meanwhile granting embarrassing newspaper interviews. On June 5, the Belgian flag line agrees to fly the men home.
Enplanements for the year total 1,175,661.
The fleet in 1967 comprises 9 Boeing 707-329s, 10 SE-210s, 1 DC-7C, 3 DC-6Bs, 8 DC-3s, and 4 CV-440s. A B-727-29C is received and enters service on July 22.
Passenger boardings for the year rise 6% to 1,243,146.
Airline employment is 10,228 in 1968. A message communication service is installed at Brussels National Airport. Two B-707-329Cs are delivered, allowing the carrier to operate an all-jet fleet on its regular services during the summer.
Coming in from Brussels on July 13, a B-707-329C with five crew and two passengers mysteriously descends below its minimum safe altitude, hits a line of trees, and crashes 8 km. N of the airport at Lagos, Nigeria; there are no survivors.
Later in the fall, two of the company’s DC-6Bs are converted into swing-tail freighters.
Freight traffic gains 23% over 1967 and passenger boardings climb to 1,257,519. Revenues are now $104.97 million.
Three additional B-707-329Cs and a Fokker F.27 are added in 1969; orders are placed for B-747-100s. Beginning on April 1, Sabena and Austrian Airlines, A. G. begin Vienna-New York service via Brussels on a fifty-fifty shared basis. The company joins the ATLAS maintenance consortium with Air France, Alitalia, S. p.A., Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G., and Iberia Spanish Airlines (2) (Lineas Aereas de Espana, S. A.).
The workforce is 10,519 and enplanements reach 1,368,030. A total of 106 new employees are hired in 1970.
A DC-3C freighter is damaged in a bad landing at Amsterdam on May 8; there are no fatalities. The aircraft is sufficiently repaired to be ferried to Antwerp on June 1, where it is withdrawn from service and broken up.
The first two B-747-129s, scheduled to be delivered before Christmas, arrive on November 19 and December 4. Throughout the fall quarter, Sabena undergoes a complete organizational study.
Passenger boardings rise 7% to 1,470,000 and cargo is up 6%. The string of net losses continues. In terms of freight carried, the company now ranks as the world’s 19th largest airline; with 10,625 workers, it is 21st in employment.
Although majority control is maintained, Belgian government ownership is reduced to 54.72% in 1971, with the remaining 45.28% of holdings being acquired by both public and private interests. This change brings about a complete organizational change and a new and aggressive marketing campaign.
The fleet totals 2 B-747-129s, 12 B-707-329s, 5 B-727-29/29Cs, and 7 SE-210s, 2 of which are sold. Orders are placed for three DC-10-30CFs. The new Jumbojets enter service on the Brussels-New York route in February.
Traffic for the year dips below the 1.46-million level.
The last of five SE-210s to be sold begin disposal in 1972. On May 8, four armed members of the Black September movement, two men and two women, hijack Flight 517, a B-707-329 with 11 crew and 91 passengers en route from Brussels to Tel Aviv, following its takeoff from an intermediate stop at Vienna. Upon landing at Lydda International Airport, Tel Aviv, the pirates threaten to blow up the plane and its passengers unless Israel releases 300 Palestinian guerrilla prisoners and flies them to Egypt.
The next day, on order of the government, Israeli commandos disguised as mechanics storm the plane, ordering all of the hostages to fall to the deck. They open fire, killing two terrorists and an Israeli woman passenger who stands up during the gun battle. The two women are captured, one of whom, along with two passengers, has been wounded. The lady pirates will be tried and given life prison sentences.
Enplanements for the year grow to 1,466,850.
Seven passengers are injured when a Caravelle on a Brussels-Barcelona flight must make an emergency landing at Cam-postela, Spain, on March 12, 1973, following the pilot’s violent maneuver to avoid colliding with another aircraft.
The fiftieth anniversary of the airline is celebrated in May; company statisticians estimate the carriage of 22.5 million passengers since May 1923. The first of three ordered DC-10-30CFs is placed in service.
A newer computerized reservations system, SAPHIR, is installed, a new modernized logo is introduced, and 10 B-737-229s are ordered. En route from Paris to Casablanca on December 23 with 106 aboard, a Caravelle crashes into the Rif Mountains of Morocco; there are no survivors.
Passenger boardings jump 11.1% to 1.68 million while the number of freight ton-kilometers flown rises 2.5% to 240.2 million.
The employee population numbers 9,965 in 1974. Sabena is the first airline to recognize the possibilities of the Jumbojet combi and has its two B-747-129s converted to Dash-129C standard in February and March. In conjunction with Sobelair, N. V., a “Holiday Abroad” marketing program is begun. Seven B-737-229s are delivered and placed into service on European routes.
Boardings accelerate 3% to 1,693,000.
A total of 175 employees are laid off in 1975 or not replaced. Four B-737-229QCs are delivered in June and two DC-10-30CFs in October. These find ready use as the carrier begins to emphasize air cargo, along with “Holidays Abroad” charters to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
Enplanements remain level at 1,681,000 and it is too soon to see an increase in cargo.
The workforce in 1976 is 43 fewer still. In January, the B-727-29Cs are sold to the Belgian Air Force.
Freight traffic accelerates by 28% during the year to 366.7 million FTKs and passenger boardings move upward 5% to 1,764,000.
Orderly retirement of the B-707-329s begins in 1977. Chairman Gaston Coppee and Managing Director Marcel Goossens oversee a workforce of 9,848 and a fleet that comprises 2 B-747-129s, 1 B-707-329B, 5 B-707-329Cs, 3 DC-10-30CFs, 10 B-737-229s, 4 B-737-229Cs, and 6 Cessna 310s.
A total of 1,945,920 passengers are carried.
Ministry of Finance official Carlos van Rafelghem is appointed chairman in 1978 and launches a severe austerity program designed to cut losses that have been accumulating since 1957. New service is inaugurated to Atlanta and Doha.
Freight jumps 20.6% and passenger boardings pass the two million mark for the first time, up 3.4% to 2,027,128.
Airline employment in 1979 is decreased 0.9% to 10,021. A new inflight magazine is launched as is a route to Dublin. Three Airbus Industrie A310s are ordered.
Cargo grows 12.6% to 504.18 million FTKs as passenger bookings ascent a slight 0.8% to 2,043,101.
The workforce is cut another 0.3% in 1980, to 10,064. A second weekly polar service to Tokyo is opened and new routes are extended to Chicago, Detroit, and Brazzaville. On July 8, direct Brussels-Chicago flights begin. A new Brussels-National freight terminal is occupied in September; it is capable of processing 300,000 tons of cargo annually. Two DC-10-30CFS are delivered during the fourth quarter.
As world economic difficulties increase, enplanements dip 3.4% to 1,974,000 and freight falls 9.2% to 467.97 million ton - kilometers.
The last B-707-329 is retired in 1981 and DC-10-30CFs are placed on all-African services south of the Sahara. Several new subsidiaries (fueling, catering, etc.) are formed.
Boardings climb 4% to 2,052,971, but cargo is off 1.3%. A huge $76.5-million loss is suffered.
The employee population is reduced by 8.4% in 1982 to 8,798, and the salaries of remaining personnel are reduced. In January, Chairman Van Rafelghem joins with other airline CEOs in designing a strategy to force the closure of the British low-fare independent Laker Airways, Ltd. The effort succeeds in February.
On March 15, the carrier’s management, led by Van Rafelghem, asks its workers to accept wage cuts of 17% to help save $21 million and also asks the Belgian government to increase the airline’s capitalization and give it permission cut or end services to some unprofitable European destinations. Faced with possible bankruptcy, the employees, on April 1, accept the request wage package.
Later in the year, DC-10-30CF service is started to Dar Es Salaam, Bujumbura, and a new point at Kilimanjaro, while routes to Hamburg, Moscow, and Warsaw are closed.
Passenger boardings dip 2.5% to 2,002,625, but freight rises 5.5% to 487.5 million FTKs. The net loss is cut to $44.3 million, but expenses are still $27 million higher than the total earnings of $731.8 million.
The workforce is cut another 6.1% in 1983 to 8,260.
Boardings decline 2.3% to 1,956,886 while cargo grows a more healthy 1.2% to 493.55 million FTKs. Revenues total $679.6 million and produce an operating profit of $23.8 million and the first net profit ($398,771) since 1957.
The payroll swells 4% in 1984 to 8,592. Two A310-222s are delivered early in the spring and are placed on European routes and a few African services. New services are started to Bamako and Luxembourg as the carrier adopts its second new logo and corporate identity within a decade.
Passenger boardings climb 3.8% to 2,032,000 while freight grows 8.2% to 533.85 million FTKs. Net profits are up 2.8% to $460,070 on earnings of $708.6 million.
Employment is up in 1985, by 3.9% to 8,260. The fleet’s two B-747-129Cs are introduced on services to central and southern Africa. Frequencies to the U. S. are increased and a new service to Boston begins on April 1. The Scandinavian cities of Oslo and Goteborg are added to the network.
Passenger bookings rise 7.7% to 2.19 million, while freight accelerates 8.8% to 580.96 million FTKs. The operating profit is $162.7 million and net income of $4.5 million is recorded, allowing the largest return to shareholders in decades. As the year closes, the pioneer ranks 23rd among all world airlines in terms of the amount of freight carried.
The third A310, a Dash-322 is received in the spring of 1986. On June 10, the first B-747-329C is received and orders are placed for five B-737-329s. Together with KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.), the 8,260-employee carrier takes shares in the regional Delta Air Transport, S. A.
Bound from Detroit to Boston with 78 aboard on April 8, an A310-222 drops suddenly when it hits turbulence, slamming passengers and food trays into the cabin ceiling and injuring at least 11 customers and 1 flight attendant.
In November, a joint service is launched with British Caledonian Airways, Ltd. (BCAL); Belgian B-747-129Cs with Sabena crews begin daily service Brussels-London-Atlanta. The fear of terrorism on the North Atlantic, particularly among American travelers, helps to prevent a traffic surge as anticipated.
Customer boardings do rise 2.1% to 2,233,746 and cargo is up a slight 0.4% to 583.25 million FTKs. These advances allow profits of $31 million (operating) and $3.24 million (net).
Airline employment is increased by 3.7% in 1987 to 9,466. In May, A310-222 flights are begun to Niamey, Lome, Cotonou, and Luanda. Thrice-weekly DC-10-30CF service is launched from Brussels to Toronto. The carrier suffers a difficult year as strikes by company employees, job actions by ATC personnel, work stoppages in other European nations, plus a freight price war, combine to insure cargo and financial downturns.
As of November, all five ordered B-737-329s are received, one of which is leased to the charter subsidiary Sobelair, N. V. The subsidiaries Sabena Building, S. A., Sabena Skyshops, S. A., Sabena Technics, S. A., and Sabena Leasing, S. A. are established on December 3.
Enplanements total 2,336,307. Freight ton-kilometers operated decline 5.2% to 553 million while expenses threaten the fruits of $1.09 billion in revenues, an 18.4% boost. The operating profit drops $10 million to $21.2 million while net gain declines to $1.86 million. The year’s bright note is a 5.7% increase in passenger boardings to 2,362,152.
The fleet in 1988 includes 2 B-747-129Cs, 1 B-747-329C, 5 DC-10-30CFs, 2 A310-222s, 1 A310-322, 12 B-737-239s, and 4 B-737-329s.
Orders are outstanding for 5 A340-300s, 1 B-747-329, 4 B-747-329s, and 12 B-737-529s. Weekly frequencies are increased in January to a number of destinations: Barcelona to 9, Lisbon to 7, Munich to 18, Rome to 10, Boston to 4, Montreal to 3, and Toronto to 3. With the acquisition of BCAL by British Airways, Ltd. (2), the joint Atlanta service is concluded.
Passenger boardings jump 10.3% to 2,604,578 while cargo swells 21.5% to 650.53 million FTKs. The operating profit is $33.52 million.
Company employment is cut by 29.9% in 1989 to 6,632. Plans are made and announced in late June for the creation of a new Sabena World Airlines, S. A., which would be owned by the current Sabena Belgian World Airlines, S. A. (60%), British Airways, Ltd. (2) and KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.) (20% each). The new entrant, which will be operated independently of its Belgian parent, will concentrate on the operation of a large European hub-and-spoke system centered on Brussels.
Meanwhile, the company must cancel 15 flights because of labor problems on September 8 and endures a 24-hour pilots’ strike on September 9-10.
Customer bookings shoot up 8% to 2,811,792 and cargo inches in the same direction by 0.8% to 660.35 million FTKs. Costs conspire to cause a $36.6-million operating loss.
The payroll is increased by 18.9% in 1990 to 7,884. Political and economic considerations conspire to prevent the establishment of a new three-party-owned Belgian airline, as the European Commission, in July, sends a statement of objections to each of the partners. The same month, an A310-222 becomes the first civil aircraft in scheduled service to use satellite communications as part of its ATC.
Effective September 9, Sabena travelers are able to claim awards as part of the USAir Frequent Traveler frequent flyer program. Joint venture frequencies commence with Maersk Air, A. S. in October between Brussels and the Danish city of Billund, home of Legos toys.
A cooperative agreement for joint operations is signed with All Nippon Airways Company, Ltd. (ANA) at year’s end.
Although the year’s passenger boardings ascend 12.6% to 3,165,833 and freight rises a slight 0.3% to 662.63 million FTKs, expenses bring a $200-million loss.
The number of employees inches up another 0.2% in 1991 to 7,900. The fleet now includes 2 leased A310-222s and 1 A310-322, 9 B-737-229As, 4 B-737-229ACs, 6 B-737-329s, 4 B-737-429s, 1 leased B-737-529, 1 chartered B-747-129Cs, 2 B-747-329Cs, 2 de Havilland Canada DHC-8-311s, and 4 owned and 1 chartered DC-10-30CFs. The turboprops are operated under feeder contract by Schreiner Airways, B. V. and orders are outstanding for five A340-211s and seven B-737-529s.
In January, operations of the subsidiary Delta Air Transport, S. A. are cut in two as a new regional, DAT Wallonie, S. A., is established to serve the French-speaking southern part of the country. Shareholding is divided between Sabena (49%), Meusinvest (25%), Delta Air Transport, S. A. (16%), and SMAP (10%). Pierre Godfrold, former head of European operations for the U. S.-based Campbell Soup Co., becomes chairman/CEO early in the year as the Belgian government grants a monetary infusion. During the first quarter, DAT Wallonie, S. A. commences operations and joint services with ANA are inaugurated, employing Sabena’s B-747-329C, between Tokyo-Moscow-Brussels westbound and Brussels-Tokyo eastbound.
The Danish Supreme Court on June 26, fines six foreign airlines a total of Dkr 452,000 (US$64,570) for bringing illegal refugees to Denmark without visas or identity documents. The decision in the case against European operators Sabena, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System), KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.), and the defunct Interflug, plus Iraqi Airways and Singapore Airlines, Ltd. has been eagerly awaited by the some 50 airlines flying into Denmark.
The companies have argued that it is not their responsibility to do the work of the police when checking in Denmark-bound passengers. Nor could they be expected to tell the difference between genuine and false visas and passports, or prevent passengers from tearing up their passports once on board the plane, as has often happened. The Supreme Court is unconvinced by their arguments, and orders the airlines to pay a fine of Dkr 8,000 per passenger illegally brought to Denmark.
A code-sharing agreement is signed with Air Canada, Ltd. in September under which the Canadian carrier agrees to purchase blocks of seats on Sabena’s thrice-weekly nonstop roundtrips between Brussels and Montreal; additional Air Canada, Ltd. passengers are able to win frequent flyer credits on the Belgian flights.
During the fall, it is announced that the financially troubled state carrier will be rescued by its neighbor, Air France, and through recapitalization of BFr 6 billion ($179.6 million) provided by the Belgian banking consortium Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Because of a domestic political crisis, negotiations are suspended in October.
Recession and world political difficulties force traffic down. Customer bookings fall 4.7% to 3,018,209 while cargo slides 26.7% to 485.93 million FTKs. Income exceeds expenses and allows profits: $72 million (operating) and $1.5 million (net).
The workforce is reduced by 8.3% in 1992 to 9,784 and the fleet is increased through the lease of an A310-304 from Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. and the delivery of five B-737-529s. On January 16, 50,833 shares are acquired in Internationale Aerospace Management Company. Another order for B-737-529s is cancelled on March 24, but is quickly taken up by CSA Czechoslovak Airlines. On April 5, the Belgian government’s transport minister, Guy Coeme, announces approval of the long-delayed code-sharing arrangement between its national carrier and Air France.
The latter, together with its Belgian financial partners, acquire a $179.6-million, 37.5% shareholding in Sabena, placing the shares under the control of a new holding company two-thirds owned by Air France. Under the accord, the two will initiate a Paris-Brussels shuttle service. Additionally, work on a three-year plan is begun designed to reconfigure the company’s European route network into an extensive hub-and-spoke operation based on Brussels’ Zaventem Airport. Plans designed to combine the carrier’s African expertise with that of Air France subsidiary UTA (French Airlines) are discussed.
An obstacle to the partnership is raised in August when Sir Leon Brit-tan, head of the EC’s Competition Commission, recommends that the arrangement be reviewed by the Commission in light of its stringent merger regulations. During the fall, a block-space agreement begins with Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd. on flights between Brussels and Dublin. On December 31, interest in Compagnie des Grands Hotels Africans, S. A. is fully depreciated.
Passenger boardings resume their upward path, climbing 4.1% to 3,142,294, but freight declines by 20.5% to 386.43 million FTKs. Revenues are up 4.3% to $1.6 billion and expenses rise 1.2% to $1.57 billion. The return to profitability is marked by an operating surplus of $28.38 million and net gain of $184,000. The Sabena Group profit is $25 million.
In 1993, Chairman/CEO Pierre Godfrond oversees an employee population of 9,500, down 2.9% from the previous yea.
En route from Tel Aviv to Brussels with 147 aboard on March 7, a B-747-329C makes an unscheduled landing in Belgrade after the airline receives a telephone warning that 4 terrorists would hijack the Jumbo-jet; after a thorough and fruitless search, the plane proceeds.
A de Havilland Canada DHC-8-311s is leased from Schreiner Airways, B. V. and is employed on March 28 to inaugurate four-times-per-day scheduled flights from Brussels to London (LCY), replacing those previously operated by Brymon Airways, Ltd.
New international services are launched from Brussels to Atlanta, Kano, and Freetown and from Venice to Barcelona. On the other hand, the company, having flown the route since 1957, suspends its service to Montreal (YUL).
On June 1, the carrier enters into a block-space agreement with Delta Air Lines on a route from Atlanta to Brussels. Also during the month, the subsidiary Transair, S. A. is merged with the Air France subsidiary Jet Tours Belgique, S. A. and Jet Tours to form Transair International, S. A. Sabena takes a 42% stake, Jet Tours has 39%, and the remainder is acquired by various travel agencies. Two A340-211s arrive in June, but quickly depart Brussels under charter to Air France.
To stave off collapse, the airline’s board approves and Chairman God-froid announces wage cuts of 15% on July 12. The cuts are part of a severe cost-cutting plan designed to save BFr 2 billion ($56 million) in three years. When more than 50% of the workforce rejects the plan, Chairman Godfroid tenders his resignation on August 4. Once three of the major employee unions agree to accept his austerity package in September, Godfroid withdraws his threat to resign and agrees to continue on. The pilots, facing a wage reduction of 17%, are not a party to the pact. In December, the Belgian government begins negotiations with Swissair, A. G. over ways to reduce Sabena’s labor costs and raise its capital.
Restructuring of the route network continues apace and helps customer bookings swell 16.2% to 3,650,701. Cargo rises 3.7% to 400.7 million FTKs and revenues for the Sabena Group climb to $1.49 billion (the airline’s share is $1.38 billion). The group loses a total of $125.5 million. The airline’s losses are $35.94 million (operating) and $158.96 million (net).
Airline employment is reduced by 3.8% in 1994 to 9,200 and the fleet is expanded by the addition of two A340-311s, which are also leased to Air France. Two DC-10-30s are leased from Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. and a new alliance is signed on January 16 with the American major Delta Air Lines, covering block-space and code-sharing on the Brussels-New York routes.
A310-222 joint flights commence daily between Brussels and New York (JFK) and Atlanta. During the last week of July, the EU Commission allows French government aid to Air France on the condition that the flag carrier make no effort to acquire or increase its stake in other airlines, including the 37.5% shareholding in Sabena taken in 1992.
Following receipt of a detailed report from the investment bank Lazard Freres analyzing the deteriorating relations between the two national airlines, Sabena Chairman Godfroid meets with Air France CEO Christian Blanc during the third week of October to request that the French airline sell its stake.
The code-sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines is expanded during the fall and takes effect on November 1. Under its provisions, the two serve Brussels-Boston with five weekly return frequencies and Brus-sels-Chicago with six roundtrips. Additionally, the pact allows the Belgian and American carriers to jointly operate flights from Brussels over Sabena’s routes to the German cities of Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart. Brussels-Manchester flights are increased to four per day and thrice-daily fifth freedom services are inaugurated in November from Manchester to Rome via Brussels.
Passenger boardings for the year leap ahead by 16.7% to 4,261,562 while freight swells 5.3% to 422.07 million FTKs. Revenues jump 7.8% to $1.98 billion, while expenses are up only 4.2% to $1.95 billion. There is a $28.1-million profit and the net loss “improves” to $35.94 million. The company’s $678-million long-term debt still continues to create a significant financial burden.
There is no change in the workforce during 1995. After years of resistance on the part of French officials, the EU forces them to open Paris (ORY) to other European airlines; Sabena begins flying into the airport on January 2. No negotiations with unions can be initiated for two months after March. Although the government will appoint mediators, no discussions can be implemented.
Discussions between the Belgian government and Swissair, A. G. concerning Sabena’s financial plight, which have been on-going since December 1993, appear to bear fruit in early spring. Brussels officials and the Swiss airline let it be known that the latter carrier may purchase up to 49.5% shareholding in the Belgian airline. On April 20, the European Commission enters the picture with a statement that it will only approve this plan when it receives guarantees that any agreement will not distort competition within the European Union.
The Belgian government on April 28 announces that it has decided to approve the terms under which it will sell a 49.5% stake in Sabena to the
Swiss major and expects finalization of a compact within the next two weeks. Sabena executives announce the acquisition on May 2 and two days later, Swissair, A. G. officials announce the financial arrangements. In exchange for almost a half interest in the Belgian airline, the Swiss carrier will invest $228.1 million in Sabena. The arrangement represents acquisition by Swissair, A. G. of a $210.6-million voting-rights equity holding and a $17.5-million investment in non-voting Belgian law participation certificates.
In addition, Swissair, A. G. agrees to lend the publicly held Societe Federale d’Investissement, S. A. (SFI) $140.4 million with which Brussels can pay back Air France for its 37.5% minority stake. The Belgian government, via SFI, will also inject $52.6 million while a consortium of Belgian investors will provide an extra $70.2 million capitalization. State ownership of Sabena will drop from 61.8% to 50.5%; options also exist that would allow Swissair, A. G. to increase its stake or for the Belgian government to buy back the Swiss stocks if national security requires nationalization.
Although both carriers continue for legal purposes to exist as independent entities, the deal will create the fourth largest airline group in Europe. Swissair, A. G. is permitted to appoint five members to the Sabena 12-person board of directors, with a sixth coming from the Belgian shareholders; the twelfth person on the board, its chairman, must be a Belgian or European Union national with approval of both the Belgian shareholders and Swissair, A. G.
During the third week of July, the European Commission formally, but with provisions to preserve competition, approves the $228.1-million Swissair, A. G. 49.5% stake in Sabena. To satisfy EC antimonopoly concerns, the two carriers pledge that, over the next five years, they will: (1) make slots available at Brussels, Zurich, and Geneva for any new entrants unable to obtain their own; (2) not increase frequencies on the four principal routes between Belgium and Switzerland more than 25% without EC permission; and (3) will conclude interline agreements with any new entrants wishing to fly the routes and permit them entrance into the frequent flyer programs of the two majors. In essence, the approval represents the application of EC air transport rules upon Switzerland, a non-European Union nation; the Swiss, looking for a way into the EU air market, offer no objections.
A major operational and marketing alliance is now formally signed between the two carriers. Under its terms, they will henceforth cooperate on ground services, information services, sales and reservations, cargo shipments, link their frequent flyer programs, and code-share on routes from Brussels to Geneva and Zurich.
Following intense competition between the Fokker 70 and Avro RJ85, Sabena, during the first week of September, places an order for 23 of the latter type. The jetliners will be operated by Sabena’s regional affiliate, Delta Air Transport, S. A., following delivery of the first unit in November.
The Swissair, A. G. partner Austrian Airlines, A. G. steps forward in October to sign a joint venture and dual-designator agreement with Sabena. The pact will provide for code-sharing between Brussels and Vienna and the sharing of codes on flights from Brussels via Vienna to Ankara, Salonica, and Tirana and from Vienna via Brussels to Strasbourg, Bristol, Newcastle, and Manchester.
After holding a total of 26 meetings since May 22 in an effort to gain “social dialogue” with the company’s unions, Chairman/CEO Godfroid mails a letter to all 9,500 employees on November 22. The letter unilaterally suspends all salary agreements and calls for a three-year wage freeze, the end of all cost-of-living increases, an increase by 5% in the number of work orders, and institution of other more flexible work rules. This rigid cost-cutting plan is required, the chairman writes, to effect recovery.
Calling the proposals “pure provocation,” union delegates, speaking for cockpit crews, flight attendants, and ground workers, immediately vote a one-day walkout for November 29 and promise further strikes if the measures Godfroid has set forth are actually implemented. The November work stoppage will be followed by additional walkouts and wildcat strikes into the new year.
Although enplanements swell 17.4% to 5,000,951, cargo dips 1.6% to 415.13 million FTKs. Income and loss figures are not provided; however, it is reported that the net loss is down to $56.57 million, atop an operating gain of just $77,000.
Airline employment grows 3% in 1996 to 9,766. The year opens poorly in the midst of political controversy, walkouts, and wildcat strikes over the desperate attempts at restructuring and labor neutralization implemented the previous November by Chairman/CEO Godfroid.
After a divisive first two months, the need for new leadership becomes apparent to all involved. During the first week of March, Chair-man/CEO Godfroid, Chief Operating Officer Gery Daenick, and Vice President-Operations Raymond Alvoet all resign. The former is immediately replaced as president/CEO by Paul Reutlinger, a longtime Swissair, A. G. vice president and management board member. At the same time, Almanij, N. V. Chairman/CEO Jan Huyghebaert is appointed as Sabena’s board chairman while former board member Philippe Suinen rejoins the group as vice chairman. To help calm labor difficulties, Bela-com Manager of Union Relations Robert Wauters is appointed the carrier’s “labor relations mediator” for the next two months.
Three British Aerospace (BAC) 1-11-510EDs are subleased from European Aviation Air Charter, Ltd. while the two A340-311s out on lease are returned by Air France. In April, the carrier begins to codeshare with TAP-Air Portugal, S. A. on flights to Macau.
Block-seat code-sharing flights with Delta Air Lines are expanded in June when a second daily L-1011 nonstop is instituted by the American major between New York and Brussels.
A code-sharing, blocked-seat agreement begins with Virgin Express-EuroBelgium Airlines, Ltd. during the last week of October covering nine daily return services from Brussels to London (LHR). VAX employs new B-737-46Ms wet-leased to Sabena on the route.
The restructuring plan, delayed by labor difficulties in the first two quarters, is finally implemented in November. The same month, a block-seat, dual-designator service is inaugurated with Finnair O/Y between Brussels and Stockholm and Brussels and Vienna.
At the same time, the existing dual-designator pact with Delta Air Lines is expanded. Ten new U. S. cities will be added: Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Washington, D. C. (lAD), Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The last DC-10-30 and all three A310s are sold in December. Also at this time, the company, acting in an independent role, agrees to market and sell cargo space for Swissair, A. G.
Customer bookings move up 3.5% to 5,173,568 but freight falls, declining by 22% to 323.85 million FTKs. Revenues for Sabena Group inch up 2.1% to $1.72 billion, but expenses jump 9% to $1.84 billion. The previous year’s operating gain turns into a $131.47-million loss and, due largely to the tardiness in restructuring, the net loss plunges to $270.13 million, the largest loss in 10 years.
Airline employment is cut 1.5% in 1997 to 9,669. The December cargo agreement with Swissair, A. G. takes effect on January 1. Also during the first week, two DC-10-30s are briefly chartered from Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G.; they will fly for three to four months until the A340-211s are returned from Air France and refurbished.
On January 8, officials in Geneva announce that Swissair, A. G., together with its European partners Sabena and Austrian Airlines, A. G., will be deepening their relationship with Delta Air Lines in the U. S. on February 1. The intention is to increase for all the share they enjoy in the North Atlantic air travel market.
On behalf of Sabena, Virgin Express-EuroBelgium Airlines, S. A.
Now doubles its Brussels-Barcelona services by taking over all five of Sabena’s daily roundtrips.
Also during the month, Swissair, A. G. and Sabena cargo operations in the U. S. are merged. Sabena now signs a memorandum of understanding for four A330-200s.
Transatlantic, code-shared, revenue, dual-designator flights commence on February from all U. S. gateways to Brussels, Zurich, and Vienna. The American press reports on February 22 that Sabena will become the first foreign airline to serve Greater Cincinnati-Northern Airport, now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary year.
When the summer schedule is implemented at the end of March, the company offers flights to a number of new or upgraded destinations. Services begun include four times a week to Beirut, daily to Moscow, thrice weekly to Palma de Mallorca. A code-sharing agreement, signed with the South African regional carrier Nationwide Air Charter (Pty.), Ltd. now takes effect, as the Belgian major places its codes on Nationwide services from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, George, and Port Elizabeth.
Virgin Express-EuroBelgium Airlines, S. A. five-times-a-day replacement flights to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport commence on March 30, along with new twice-daily flights to London (LGW) flown by Virgin Express with Sabena Avro RJ85s and B-737-229As.
A chartered DC-10-30, painted in a special 101 Dalmatians color scheme and wearing “Flying Together With Swissair” titles, completes the company’s last service with this type on April 27, a flight to Brussels from Chicago (ORD).
The February U. S. press story becomes fact on May 15 when, in cooperation with its new code-sharing partners, the Belgian line launches A340-311 flights from Brussels to the Queen City.
From there, passengers may obtain connections on Delta flights to New Orleans, Memphis, Austin, Denver, Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and San Francisco. A special guest on the inaugural flight is 85-year-old James Prettyjohn of Bainbridge, Georgia, who had been a passenger on a 1928 Sabena flight in Belgium.
Also in May, the U. S. DOT approves the carrier’s plans to expand its blocked-space, code-share agreements with Swissair, A. G., Delta Air Lines, and Austrian Airlines, A. G. to 30 U. S. cities beyond Atlanta, New York, and Cincinnati. In return, Delta will purchase seats on the alliance partners’ flights to eight cities beyond Brussels, Zurich, and Vienna.
To mark its fiftieth anniversary of service to the U. S., Sabena, on June 30, announces that fares for two, roundtrip from Cincinnati to Brussels, will be just $50 and will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. The response is overwhelming for the two flights that will leave on September 25 and October 8.
During the summer, flights, previously scheduled for April, are started to Toulouse and Cairo.
On August 27 Virgin Express-EuroBelgium Airlines, S. A. is operating a replacement service into London (LHR) from Brussels. Flying as Sabena Flight 603, the B-737-229A with 29 passengers and on ILS approach, comes within 200 ft. horizontally and 600 ft. vertically at 2,400 ft. with British Airways, Ltd. (2) Flight 818, a departing B-757-236 with 29 aboard. Both aircraft, in cloud, respond to ATC instructions and avoid disaster, although the near miss is caused by initially faulty ATC.
Two leased DC-10-30s are returned to Lufthansa German Airlines,
A. G.
During the fall, an innovative plan is put forward by management to acquire a new fleet of narrow-bodied Airbus aircraft over the next several years to replace the company’s aging B-737s. After a special purpose financing consortium, 50% owned by Sabena and Swissair, A. G., is set up to provide funding, $1.4 billion in orders would be placed with Airbus Industrie for 26 A319s, 5 A320s, and 3 A321s, which would begin delivery in 1999.
World History
