Information was received by sources in Brussels, with whom this correspondent interacted recently during a visit to Belgium on the occasion of the joining by Brussels Airlines into the global Star Alliance, all of whom still harbor strong sentiments over the events of 2001 when SABENA was pushed into collapse by Swissair.
The fallout of Swissair’s bankruptcy in 2001, and the subsequent bankruptcy of SABENA, which was part of the Swissair Group at the time, has reportedly gone to the UN court. Belgium’s government, which had divested 49.5 percent of SABENA’s shares to the then Swiss national airline, proceeded with the case over a pending dispute, where Switzerland stands accused of violating international conventions when it supported Swiss courts decisions not to recognize a ruling by a Belgian court and not to stay proceedings in Switzerland.
In the immediate aftermath of the Swissair collapse, the Belgian national airline was also dragged to its financial death bed, and while a few months later SN Brussels Airlines was formed in the first half of 2002, which after the merger with Virgin Europe became Brussels Airlines two years ago, the affront and damage done to Belgian aviation and the Brussels Airport at the time was never forgotten, nor apparently forgiven, considering the latest action now before the UN International Court.
