SN Brussels Airlines resumes where Sabena left off

SN Brussels Airlines of Belgium began flights to Africa on Friday, picking up where its now-defunct predecessor, Sabena, left off in November 2001, following bankruptcy.

Its first flight - SN 471 via an Airbus A 330-300 - landed in Entebbe, Uganda, before continuing on to Nairobi, Kenya.

However, the most symbolic flight - according to the Belga news agency - took place on Sunday, when the first SN Brussels flight landed in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the former Belgian colony that gained its independence in 1960. Its passengers included Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who on Monday was due to meet DRC President Joseph Kabila and representatives of the former rebel group Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC).

"It's much more than the re-establishment of an airlink," Michel was quoted as telling the Belga news agency. "It's the re-establishment of cultural, historic, and emotional links."

SN Brussels will initially have three flights weekly to Kinshasa, on Sunday, Monday and Thursday, departing Brussels at 12:10 (13:10 GMT) and arriving in Kinshasa at 19:15 (20:15 GMT). Return flights from Kinshasa are scheduled for 20:45 (21:45 GMT) arriving at 05:50 (06:50 GMT) in Brussels the following day. As of 21 June, an additional two flights per week are planned.

The new company will initially fly to eight destinations, including Banjul (Gambia), Conakry (Guinea), Dakar (Senegal), Entebbe, Kigali (Rwanda), Kinshasa, Monrovia (Liberia), and Nairobi. In mid-June, Douala (Cameroon), Luanda (Angola) and Yaounde (Cameroon) will be added to the airline's schedule, by which time its fleet will consist of three Airbus A 330-300s.

The Belgian daily newspaper La Libre Belgique reported on Friday that the new airline had created jobs for 200 in Belgium - many former employees of Sabena - and for 150 throughout Africa.