SABENA
From Scramble - The Aviation Magazine
Contents |
History
The company started in May 1920 as SNETA, operating with surplus wartime aircraft like DH-4 and DH-9. Due to numerous accidents SNETA ceased its operations in 1922 already, but was followed by the SABENA (Société Anonyme Belge d' Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne). This company was officially founded on May 23 1923.
First aircraft type to be used by Sabena was the Handley Page W8, a trimotor, of which 15 were in use. All the flights were conducted from the airfield Haren, near Brussels. In the beginning only connections with other capitals in northern Europe were undertaken. From 1924 Sabena also started cargo flights, using Farman Goliath aircraft.
In 1925 the first heroic flight to Belgian colony Congo was undertaken with Handley Page W8 O-BAHO. The 8000 kms track took 51 days! It was the start of a scheduled connection.
SABENA had always fancied trimotor aircraft as they were considered safer than twins. The contemporary representative of this type of aircraft was the widely used Fokker F.VIIb/3m, of which SABENA at one time used 30. As many of the competing airliner had switched to the all metal Douglas DC-2 by 1934, SABENA could not stay behind. So an order for 12 Savoia Marchetti SM.73 was placed and these were successfully operated. They were later supplemented by SM.83 aircraft from the same manufacturer. A number of Junkers Ju-52/3m was also used. In the years before the war also Douglas DC-3s were acquired.
During wartime a number of aircraft, that had fled for the advancing German army, were used by the RAF. Other aircraft (6 Fokker F.VIIb/3m and 6 Ju-52/3ms) that had been in Congo at the time of the opening of hostilities, were used for connections with Cairo in Egypt.
Before the end of World War II SABENA had already ordered DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft, so soon after VE-day the first connections were taken up again. February 18 1946 saw the first post-war Atlantic crossing: SABENA was back. New aircraft types were needed, like the DC-6, which type SABENA was the first to introduce in Europe in 1947. SABENA was also one of the first companies to use the Convair CV-240 on the European network. In 1956 these were replaced by the larger CV-440s and Douglas DC-7s were added to the fleet for the long range tracks.
The year 1960 saw another SABENA first: it was the first European airline to operate the Boeing 707 jetliner. The 707s were very active during the evacuation of Belgian citizens at the beginning of the Congolese civil war. At one time a Boeing 707 took off with 303 passengers on board, while normally 164 would have been carried. On the European network the Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle was introduced, later supplemented with the Boeing 727. The first Jumbojet was received on January 8 1971. At that time SABENAs financial situation was already alarming. The proposed merger with KLM and Luxair did not materialize as the latter companies were reluctant to take up a financially unhealthy partner.
From 1973 the Caravelles were replaced by Boeing 737-200s on the European routes. In the same year SABENA purchased two McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.
Aircraft Types
Some of the types it flies or flew with:
- Airbus A310
- Airbus A319
- Airbus A321
- Airbus A330
- Airbus A340
- Boeing 707
- Boeing 727
- Boeing 737
- Boeing 747
- Convair CV-240
- Convair CV-440
- Douglas DC-3
- Douglas DC-4
- Douglas DC-6
- Douglas DC-7
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Sikorsky S-55
- Sikorsky S-58
- Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle
- Vertol 44
