Belgian carrier CityBird began wet-lease cargo operations for Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises (LAC), the national carrier of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 30 July with the delivery of the first of two A300-600 freighters originally destined for Kuwait Airways. Belgian flag-carrier Sabena is planning to sell all shares in CityBird after claiming the independent should have notified it about plans to start flying the Kinshasa-Brussels route on behalf of LAC. With the row still simmering, Sabena is down to a 2.99% holding in CityBird, but plans to sell more stock. Arbitration has begun, but with the smaller airline having complained about Sabena's alleged anti-competitive attitude, the flag carrier's finance chief Marc Petit says: "There are no more contacts between us apart from lawyers."
Source: Flight International
