HERMAN DE WULF /BRUSSELS
A decision on whether to merge Belgian carriers DAT and Virgin Express is due as early as next month after the 16 January completion of the rescue of DAT from the collapse of its parent Sabena.
The day before, 53 international creditors of Sabena's SIC holding company reluctantly agreed to write off half SIC's debts and convert the remainder into shares of the new airline being formed by AirHolding - a group of 35 Belgian companies.
A refusal would have meant the bankruptcy of SIC and all its subsidiaries, including DAT.
Rob Kuipers, the former head of DHL Europe and recently appointed chairman of DAT, says: "It will be an entirely new airline, much smaller than Sabena and will employ some 1,500 people.
"We intend to operate the existing DAT fleet serving 30 destinations in Europe. Next April we will add a further five or six [BAE Systems Avro RJs]."
The new airline was founded with €200 million ($176 million) of funding provided by AirHolding, including cash from Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson.
"Long-haul services to Africa are being considered - but first of all we want to get our European operation up and running, and make sure that this is profitable. There is no point in launching services to the USA in the current situation," he says.
Belgian start-up VG Airlines is planning to fill the gap in the Brussels/US market, starting in April with Airbus A330-200s.
Negotiations are under way with Virgin Express about a possible merger of the two low- cost carriers. "We already have operational agreements with Virgin. However, no decision has been made up until now. We'll know more about this in February," says Kuipers.
Meanwhile Sabena Technics, the erstwhile maintenance arm of the collapsed Belgian flag carrier, has finally signed a labour agreement allowing it to cut 700 jobs.
President and chief executive Peter De Swert says that the agreement, along with a recent 30-month bridging loan, the survival of holding company SIC, and a maintenance contract from DAT, should help the company attract new business.
The maintenance firm is now looking for a new owner, ideally another maintenance company, and De Swert says he is optimistic now that the company's prospects have improved.
"We have kept all our customers [since the collapse of Sabena], but after 11 September they are giving us less workload, so we need new customers," he says.
"We have four or five ready to sign if they are confident of our restructuring," adds De Swert.
Source: Flight International
