Isn't it amusing that Sabena has received so much state aid recently it can't even count how much?
On the Letters page in your November issue, the deputy to the chairman of Sabena attempts to persuade us that Sabena received only BFr35.2 billion (US$970 million). Nice try, Mr Daeninck. Any way you try to dress up a wipeout of debt to the taxpayer, it's still state aid.
Sabena's deputy chairman might care to examine European Commission document VII/C/2-770/93 dated 20 October 1993. Here a table sets out the billions of taxpayers' money poured into lame-duck state-owned airlines to that date. First on that list is Sabena, beneficiary of BFr65.4 billion (US$1.8 billion) of state aid, notified to the Commission on 5 April 1991 with a Commission decision in June 1991.
It's there in this document, in black and white. Airline Business can rest assured that its figure was spot-on.
Paul Holubowicz
Director general
International Air Carrier Association
Brussels
Belgium
Source: Airline Business