Belgium

Europe

6Airlines

2Profiled Airports

5With ICAO

5With Callsign

Aviation History

Belgium was an early participant in European aviation, and its national carrier Sabena, founded in 1923, became one of the world's oldest airlines and a pioneer of colonial-era long-haul routes to the Belgian Congo. Sabena introduced jet service across the Atlantic in 1960 and operated widebody aircraft including the Boeing 747, but decades of financial difficulty culminated in bankruptcy in 2001 after a failed partnership with Swissair. Brussels Airlines emerged from Sabena's ashes via SN Brussels Airlines and a later merger with Virgin Express, becoming Belgium's new flag carrier. Brussels Airport at Zaventem remains one of Europe's significant hubs.

✦Sabena's 1925 Brussels-Congo route was one of the earliest long-distance colonial air routes in the world.

✦Sabena's initials were jokingly nicknamed by frequent flyers as standing for phrases mocking its reliability, a reflection of its turbulent later decades.

✦Brussels Airport at Zaventem remains one of the busiest airports in the Benelux region.

1923

Sabena founded

Sabena (Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne) is established on 23 May as Belgium's national airline.

1925

Brussels-Congo route pioneered

Sabena pilots complete the first flight linking Brussels to Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo, opening a landmark colonial air route.

1946

Transatlantic service begins

Sabena launches scheduled service to New York using Douglas DC-4 aircraft.

1960

First mainland European transatlantic jet service

Sabena introduces Boeing 707 jets on transatlantic routes, becoming the first mainland European airline to fly jets across the Atlantic.

1971

Boeing 747 enters service

Sabena introduces the Boeing 747 jumbo jet on its transatlantic network.

1995

Swissair takes stake in Sabena

Swissair acquires a 49% stake in Sabena and assumes management control as part of a wider European alliance strategy.

2001

Sabena ceases operations

Sabena files for bankruptcy in October and ends all flights on 7 November after nearly 80 years of operation.

2007

Brussels Airlines formed

SN Brussels Airlines, Sabena's operational successor, merges with Virgin Express to create Brussels Airlines.

Notable Carriers

Sabena (defunct 2001) · Brussels Airlines · TUI fly Belgium · Air Belgium (ceased passenger ops)

Compiled from public/encyclopedic sources including Wikipedia, Flightradar24 and Brussels Times historical coverage; exact early-1920s route details may vary slightly by source.

Aviation Firsts

Oldest Airport — contested

Haren Airport — Brussels (1914): Established 1914 by the German Imperial Air Service as the military airfield 'Flugplatz Brüssel' during WWI occupation; closed in the early 1950s. Melsbroek (built by Nazi Germany in WWII) developed into today's Brussels Airport — a lineage/successor site, not a direct continuation. · Wikipedia ↗

Antwerp International Airport (Deurne) — Antwerp (1921): Construction began 1921; Sabena started passenger services there in 1924. One of the oldest still-operating Belgian airports with a clear date, though no source calls it 'oldest in Belgium.' · Wikipedia ↗

Haren (1914) is the earliest documented airfield on Belgian soil, but it was built by an occupying foreign power and closed in the 1950s; no source names a single definitive 'oldest in Belgium.'

Oldest Airline — contested

Sabena (1923): Founded 23 May 1923, Belgium's national carrier. Ceased operations/liquidated November 2001. Successor Delta Air Transport became SN Brussels Airlines (2002), which merged with Virgin Express to form Brussels Airlines — which still carries the SN code. · SN ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

SNETA (Syndicat National pour l'Étude des Transports Aériens) (1919): Formed 31 March 1919 to pioneer commercial aviation in Belgium; ran a test flight Brussels–London–Paris about a week later. Predates Sabena by 4 years but isn't clearly a scheduled airline rather than a study syndicate. · Wikipedia ↗

SNETA (1919) predates Sabena (1923) by 4 years, but sources don't clearly establish it ran scheduled airline service rather than being a pioneering/study syndicate.

First Foreign Ground Handler

No documented foreign entrant found. Belgium's dominant handler, Aviapartner, is itself Belgian (founded in Antwerp in 1949), so it cannot be the answer. Checked Swissport's Belgium network page (confirms a current presence but gives no entry year or acquisition history) and looked for the Flightcare Belgium entity Swissport is known to have absorbed, but could not find a dated, sourced account of Flightcare's own founding/ownership or of any other foreign company's first entry into Belgian ground handling.

Aviation Museums1

Brussels Air Museum (Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, Aviation Hall)Brussels→

Fleet by Operator

Brussels Airlines

TUI fly Belgium

015304560

Brussels Airlines fleet from Wikipedia (mid-2026 infobox) and 2025 passenger figure from company results; TUI fly Belgium fleet from Wikipedia (Jan 2026); BRU traffic from Brussels Airport press release (Jan 2025); CRL traffic from Aviation24.be (2024) — 2024-2026

Passengers by Operator

Brussels Airlines

9.1M

0.0M2.5M5.0M7.5M10.0M

Annual Passenger Traffic by Airport

Brussels Airport

23.6M

Brussels South Charleroi Airport

10.5M

0.0M10.0M20.0M30.0M

2024 yıllık yolcu sayıları — Brussels Airlines fleet from Wikipedia (mid-2026 infobox) and 2025 passenger figure from company results; TUI fly Belgium fleet from Wikipedia (Jan 2026); BRU traffic from Brussels Airport press release (Jan 2025); CRL traffic from Aviation24.be (2024)