page_title: Sabena
section_title: 1995–2001
hierarchical_section_title: Sabena / History / 1995–2001
caption_attribution_description: English: Sabena BAe 146, Birmingham, 2001
context_page_description: The Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne, better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, the newly formed SN Brussels Airlines took over part of Sabena's assets in February 2002, which became Brussels Airlines after a merger with Virgin Express in March 2007. The airline's corporate headquarters were located in the Sabena House on the grounds of Brussels Airport in Zaventem.
context_section_description: When Swissair took over management of the airline, few modifications were made to the aircrafts' liveries, including a sticker, saying: Flying together with Swissair. 
  In March and April 1998 two McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 aircraft, both leased from CityBird, joined the fleet and such long-haul destinations as Newark, Montreal and São Paulo were (re)introduced. Also, that year saw the delivery of the last passenger version of the MD-11 from Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas a year before.
  1999 saw new colours introduced to the fleet, beginning with an Airbus A340. One of the latest fleet types that Sabena introduced, right after the A321 and A320 was the A319 which saw service in 2000. These new planes were part of a record-order of 34 Airbus A320 family aircraft, imposed on Sabena when under Swissair management.
  After an airline recession and the effects on the airline industry of the September 11 attacks in 2001, all airlines that flew across the Atlantic suffered. Swissair had pledged to invest millions in Sabena but failed to do so, partly because the airline had financial problems itself, having filed for bankruptcy protection one month prior. Sabena filed for legal protection against its creditors on 3 October, and went into liquidation on 6 November 2001. Fred Chaffart, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sabena, read a declaration on this day to explain the decision.
  7 November 2001 was the final day of operations for Sabena. Flight 690 from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to Brussels via Cotonou, Benin, was the last Sabena flight to land in Brussels. An Airbus A340-300 registered as OO-SCZ operated the flight.
  A group of investors managed to take over Delta Air Transport, one of Sabena's subsidiaries, and transformed it into SN Brussels Airlines. That airline merged with Virgin Express in 2006 to form a new company, Brussels Airlines.
caption: Sabena BAe 146 at Birmingham, 2001
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