First Sabena: Brussels Airlines celebrates 15 years in the skies

Brussels Airlines, the successor of Sabena over the intermediate SN Brussels, today celebrates 15 years of its journeys through the African skies in Kampala. 

Sabena, the erstwhile national airline of the Kingdom of Belgium, was dragged under by parent company Swissair in 2001 through no fault of their own, when the overambitious Swiss national airline went bankrupt in spectacular fashion at the time. Sabena then was 78 years old, having been formed in 1923. 

The Belgium government and private investors were however swift to put into place an immediate response and subsequently formed successor airline SN Brussels in 2002, which in 2006 then merged with Virgin Express into what is today known as Brussels Airlines. 

With a fleet of 49 aircraft, serving over 90 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa, has Brussels Airlines emerged as an in demand full service airline with an award winning business class, one of the first airlines to introduce an Economy Premium section and a comfortable economy class. 

In East Africa does Brussels Airlines now serve Entebbe five times a week, Kigali six times a week and Bujumbura, in conjunction with Kigali, once a week but sadly had to leave Nairobi when parent company Lufthansa directed a route swap with Accra / Ghana to the regret of many faithful passengers who had remained with the airline since the old Sabena days. 

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