R.I.P. Sabena (10th aniversary)

After 9/11 alot of airtravel companies went bust, this included the parade horse of the industry SABENA.

Well Sabena was not really a parade horse, but it was the oldest airline company around at the time.
Behind the demise of Sabena there's a lot of stories and rumours, to be true I think nobody really knows what went wrong with the company.

You could say the song started to die when the EU enforced the free market and state owned companies had to go, like so many state owned companies in Belgium Sabena was privatised in a political way. Meaning the CEO and head staff were still appointed by the government, and usually were people with the right connections and not necessary the right qualifications. The company was still paid by the government for its services by the government, but this was now called subsidies and the workforce were guaranteed certain rights and privileges normally given to state employees.

So on paper it was a private company, in reality the state still ran it.

In the mid 1990's Sabena ventured up with Swiss Air, and then everything went down the hill. Sabena  passenger had to fly with Swiss Air planes (and Sabena had to pay, making loss on those flights), the catering had to be from Swiss Air, even the bagage handeling at Brussels International, Sabena's main hub, had to be from Swiss Air.

A long story short is that Swiss Air took everything of Sabena , leaving a husk of a company, that despite the best efforts could not survive the blow of 9/11.

Swiss Air went bust a few years later, a trial was going on to get Swiss Air to pay back the damages it did,while Swiss Air committed what they did with Sabena , they were acquitted from wrongdoings. Closing the last hope many people had in saving the airline.

Now a days Brussels Airlines tries to relive the glory of its predecessor, but its song might also end soon.