Belgian government moves to save Sabena jobs
Sabena, the Belgian state-controlled airline, was formally declared bankrupt on Wednesday, but not before the country’s government announced that it had raised E200m ($180m) to save up to half of Sabena’s jobs.
The government said 12 private sector groups would put E155m into a new company built around Sabena’s regional subsidiary DAT, along with E45m from state-controlled investment funds.
But, rushing to respond to events, it did not provide details of which companies were participating. Many of the boards of the companies involved have yet to approve any investment.
Speaking at his office, which was guarded from demonstrating Sabena workers by a line of armoured vehicles, Guy Verhofstadt, prime minister, described the company’s bankruptcy as “a moment of impotence and failure”.
The company, which only twice recorded a profit since its foundation since 1923, finally fell foul of European Union rules against state aid to failing airlines. But Belgium hopes to switch some European, African and North American routes to DAT, which historically has operated 40 per cent of Sabena’s flights.
The government hopes to boost DAT’s workforce from about 900 to more than 2,000, guaranteeing a level of activity that will preserve jobs in other parts of the Sabena group, such as catering and ground-handling.
Among the companies that have confirmed they will invest in the new group are BBL, the wholly owned Belgian banking operation of ING, KBC and Dexia, the Belgian financial groups.
Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch financial group, has signed a memorandum of understanding to provide new aid, while Electrabel and Tractebel, two Belgian arms of the French utility Suez, said they had seen the business plan for the new airlines.
“The good news is that there are some companies in Belgium who have not shied away from helping out, who want to alleviate the catastrophe of Sabena,” said Maurice Lippens, Fortis co-chairman, who was entrusted by Mr Verhofstadt to look for private investors for the project.
Mr Lippens said other companies would be attracted by the profitability of the venture and compared his efforts favourably with Switzerland’s effort to round up SFr1.5bn ($910m) to keep Swissair flying. “This is not a Swiss way of doing things; we do not impose this on people,” he said.
Virgin Express, Sir Richard Branson’s Brussels-based carrier, is continuing talks over merging its operations with DAT. Additional reporting by Kevin Done.
Financial Times
