Sabena airliners which were augmented and later replaced by Douglas DC-6Bs. The DC-4s also restarted the airline's traditional route to the Belgian Congo. Sabena was the first airline to introduce transatlantic schedules from the north of England, when one of its DC-6Bs inaugurated the Brussels-Manchester-New York route on 28 October 1953. The Convair 240 was introduced in 1949 to partially replace the DC-3s that until then had flown most European services. As of 1956, improved Convair 440 "Metropolitan" twins began replacing the Convair 240 twins and were used successfully well into the 1960s between European regional destinations. In 1957, the long-range
European Regions Airline Association Single European Sky", a set of proposals to strengthen the legislative basis for the Single European Sky. In July 2013, when the European commission called for all state subsidies for airports to end within 10 years, the ERA criticized the proposal, arguing that this decision will have a negative impact on the development of regional airlines and airports. In 2014, the ERA pledged for a hiatus of the European Union Emissions Trading System until a compromise with other international authorities could be reached. The European Regions Airline Association makes an annual regional "Airport of the Year" award, which in 2016