Sabena has confirmed that it has resurrected cost-saving plans to employ flying personnel on out-of-country contracts. The proposal, which is still under study, would see pilots and cabin crew continue to be based in Brussels, but paid in Switzerland, probably via Sabena's partner Swissair, with the transaction made through a Swiss bank account.
The savings are put at around 20%, amounting to a cost benefit of around BFr1.5 billion ($48 million) a year for the Belgian airline. Any such plan would still need approval from the Belgian and Swiss Governments, as well as the Belgian pilots' association, the ABPNL, and the other unions.
A similar scheme, designed to avoid Belgium's high social-employment costs, was first floated in 1993 under the previous management. Those plans involved employing aircrew in the UK or Luxembourg, but they were eventually vetoed by the Belgian Government.
The latest move follows the announcement by Swissair, which holds a 49.5% stake in Sabena, of further efforts to cement their alliance. At the end of 1996, the Swiss group announced the introduction of a new initiative on the North Atlantic from the start of February, which will see Austrian Airlines, Sabena and Swissair effectively carry out joint operations together with Delta Air Lines. Swissair, which is restructuring itself into a new holding company under the S Air Group name, also took over marketing of Sabena's cargo capacity from the start of January.
Meanwhile, Sabena has released traffic figures for 1996 which show the impact of the strike action in the first half of the year. Although the carrier broke through the 5 million-passenger mark for the first time in 1996, that represented an increase of only 3.3% over the previous year.
Growth during the first half, which was affected by strikes, was limited to 1%, followed by a more healthy 5.3% in the second half.
Source: Flight International
