Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS
A row has broken out between Belgian national airline Sabena and local associate City Bird over an agreement with fledgling Congolese national airline Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises (LAC) allowing City Bird to operate the Brussels-Kinshasa route on the African carrier's behalf.
Sabena is demanding BFr350 million ($9.2 million) in damages and is seeking to terminate extensive links between the two carriers.
It has asked a local arbitration court to rule on whether City Bird's action constitutes a breach of contract on the grounds that the national airline should have been informed of the move.
Sabena says that under its deal, City Bird had to inform it of any initiatives that might directly or indirectly have an impact on the national carrier's operations.
LAC, which recently took over from the defunct Air Zaire, has agreed a five-year contract with City Bird to fly passengers and cargo between Brussels and the former Belgian colony in competition with Sabena. Under bilateral agreements between Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both national carriers are allowed to link the two capitals.
Sabena has an 11.2% interest in City Bird, and contracts the low-cost airline to operate services to North and South America on its behalf. City Bird says it is merely wet-leasing a Boeing 767 to LAC in a similar arrangement to the one it has with Luxair to fly the 767 between Luxembourg and New York on the days it is not used on the Congo route.
Source: Flight International
