Sabena
The Société anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne, better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline and flag carrier of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, SN Brussels Airlines was formed through a takeover of former subsidiary Delta Air Transport and took over part of Sabena's assets in February 2002. SN Brussels Airlines merged with Virgin Express in 2007 to form Brussels Airlines. The airline's corporate headquarters were located in the Sabena House on the grounds of Brussels Airport in Zaventem.
History
1923–1939: Beginnings
Sabena began operations on 23 May 1923 as the national carrier of Belgium. The airline was created by the Belgian government with help from the Devriendt family after its predecessor SNETA —formed in 1919 to pioneer commercial aviation in Belgium—ceased operations. Sabena operated its first commercial flight from Haren, Brussels, to London on 1 July 1923, via Ostend. Services to Rotterdam and Strasbourg were launched on 1 April 1924. The Strasbourg service was extended to Basel on 10 June 1924. Amsterdam was added on 1 September 1924, and Hamburg followed on 1 May 1929 via Antwerp, Düsseldorf, and Essen.Belgian Congo
When Sabena was created, the airline was partly funded by Belgians in the Belgian Congo colony who had lost their air service, an experimental passenger and cargo company between Léopoldville, Lisala, and Stanleyville, a year earlier. They expected the new Belgian national airline to fill this gap. On 12 February 1925, Sabena aviators Edmond Thieffry, Léopold Roger, and Joseph De Brycker succeeded in the feat of flying their Handley Page W8 F biplane from Brussels, the capital of Belgium, to Léopoldville, the capital of the Belgian Congo, pioneering a long-haul route for passengers traveling between Europe and Africa, and King Albert's daughter, Princess Marie-José, flew the route on April 3. Throughout its history, Sabena had a long tradition of service to African destinations, and for a long time, these were the only profitable routes served by the airline.Sabena used land planes for its Congo operations, and a program of aerodrome construction was initiated in the Congo. This was finished in 1926, and Sabena immediately began flights within the Belgian colony, the main route being Boma-Léopoldville-Élisabethville, a 2,288 km route over dense jungle. First, flights were operated with De Havilland DH.50s, although these were quickly replaced by the larger Handley Page W.8f which had three engines and offered ten seats.
By 1931 Sabena's fleet, including the aircraft used on the Congo network, totalled 43 aircraft. Its mainstay type was the Fokker F.VIIB, with a lesser number of smaller Fokker VIIA and 14 Handley-Page types. It also flew British Westland Wessex aircraft.
Sabena occasionally flew to tropical Africa, Belgium's Congo colony, but mostly these aircraft were shipped out. There was no direct flight yet between Belgium and the colony. As the 1930s progressed, Sabena cooperated with Air France and Deutsche Luft Hansa, which also had interests in routes to destinations across Africa.
Sabena's first long-haul flight to the Congo occurred on 12 February 1935 and took five and a half days, for which Sabena used a Fokker F-VII/3m aircraft. The following year, Sabena purchased the Savoia-Marchetti SM.73 airliner. With a speed of 300 km/h, it reduced the journey time to only four days, and the Sabena service ran on alternate weeks to an Air Afrique service.
File:Savoia Marchetti S.73.jpg|thumb|A Savoia-Marchetti SM.73 from Sabena, similar to the one that crashed in the 1935 crash.
Expansion in Europe
In Europe, Sabena opened services to Copenhagen and Malmö in 1931, and a route to Berlin was initiated in 1932. The mainstay pre-war airliner that Sabena used in Europe was the successful Junkers Ju 52/3m airliner. The airline's pre-war routes covered almost 6,000 km within Europe. While the Brussels Haren Airport was Sabena's main base, the company also operated services from other Belgian airports and had a domestic network that was mainly used by businessmen who wanted to be in their coastal villas for the weekend.In 1938, the airline purchased the new Savoia-Marchetti SM.83, a development of the S.M. 73 with a speed of 435 km/h, although it flew services at a cruising speed of about 400 km/h.
1939–1946: Wartime
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Sabena's fleet totalled 18 aircraft. Its mainstay fleet type was the Savoia-Marchetti SM.73 airliner and the Junkers Ju 52/3m airliner. Sabena also had just taken delivery of two Douglas DC-3s.During the war, the airline maintained its Belgian Congo routes, but all European services ceased.
1946–1960: Transatlantic expansion
After the war, in 1946, Sabena resumed operating a network of intra-European scheduled services. The fleet initially consisted mainly of Douglas DC-3s. There were thousands of surplus Douglas C-47 Skytrains available to help airlines restart operations after the war. The airline now flew under the name of SABENA—Belgian World Airlines.Sabena started its first transatlantic route to New York City on 4 June 1946, initially using unpressurised Douglas DC-4 airliners, which were augmented and later replaced by Douglas DC-6Bs. The DC-4s also restarted the airline's traditional route to the Belgian Congo. Sabena was the first airline to introduce transatlantic schedules from the north of England, when one of its DC-6Bs inaugurated the Brussels-Manchester-New York route on 28 October 1953.
The Convair 240 was introduced in 1949 to partially replace the DC-3s that until then had flown most European services. As of 1956, improved Convair 440 "Metropolitan" twins began replacing the Convair 240 twins and were used successfully well into the 1960s between European regional destinations.
In 1957, the long-range Douglas DC-7C was introduced for long-haul routes, but this plane would begin to be supplanted after only three years by the jet age. It remained in service on the transatlantic route until 1962.
On 3 June 1954, a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 attacked a Sabena-operated Douglas DC-3 on a cargo flight from the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia, killing the radio operator and wounding both the captain and engineer. Co-pilot Douglas Wilson managed to land in Austria, but the plane suffered significant damage.
For the 1958 world exposition in Brussels, Sabena leased two Lockheed Super Constellations from Seaboard World Airlines, using them mainly on transatlantic routes. In the same period, there were experiments with helicopter passenger service using Sikorsky S-58 aircraft from Brussels to Antwerp, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and the Paris heliport at Issy-les-Moulineaux.
1960–1990: The jet age
1960 saw the introduction of the Boeing 707-320 intercontinental jet for trans-Atlantic flights to New York. SABENA was mainland Europe's first airline to operate a jet across the Atlantic. One of Sabena's aircraft became the first Boeing 707 to crash while in commercial service when Flight 548 crashed while preparing to land at the Brussels Airport on 15 February 1961. The United States Figure Skating Team was aboard the aircraft, en route from New York to Prague via Brussels to compete in a figure skating championship.Six Caravelle jetliners were introduced on all medium-haul routes in Europe from February 1961, being flown on most routes alongside the Convair 440s until the early 1970s.
The beginning of the 1960s saw a major upheaval for Sabena in the Congo. Widespread rioting against Belgian colonials in the months leading up to and after the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused thousands of Belgians to flee the country. The Belgian government commandeered Sabena's entire long-haul fleet to get the refugees back to Europe. Independence also meant the end of the impressive regional network of routes that the airline had built up in the Congo since 1924. When the new republic began its own airline, Air Congo, in June 1961, Sabena held 30 percent of that airline's shares.
The Douglas DC-6Bs remained in service with Sabena in the mid-1960s, although they were no longer used on the airline's main routes. The Boeing 707s and Caravelles became the mainstay types during this decade. Boeing 727-100s were introduced on important European routes and also some African services from 1967 in a unique colour scheme; the fin markings incorporated a bare-metal rudder and white engine colours. At this time Fokker F27s entered service between regional Belgian airports and European destinations such as London Heathrow.
The Boeing 747-100 was introduced in 1971, on transatlantic routes flying alongside the Boeing 707-320Cs. Sabena, like many other transatlantic airlines, was satisfied with the Boeing 707s. For commercial reasons, it was recognised that it had to buy jumbo jets for its prestige services, notably New York JFK, and as of the mid-seventies, Chicago O'Hare. Sabena purchased only two first-generation jumbo jets, one named Tante Agathe, and it continued to fly the 707 into the early 1980s, as the Boeing 747-100's last flight occurred in 1993.
In 1973, the Boeing 727s on the European network were replaced by Boeing 737-200s. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 entered service in 1974. In total, Sabena purchased five of these convertible combi aircraft wide-body jets.
In 1984 Airbus A310s were introduced on routes that had high passenger density. This aircraft type also introduced a modernisation of the 1973 Sabena livery, in which a lighter blue was used and the titles on the fuselage were in a more modern style.
In June 1986 the first of two Boeing 747-300 aircraft joined the fleet, eventually replacing the older 747-100s.
In 1989 Sabena invited Belgian fashion designer Olivier Strelli to create a new range of uniforms for its cabin crews.