Air Zaïre the government. Part of the contract with Sabena saw the Belgian airline train Air Congo personnel for a six-year period, and by the end of 1962 Air Congo had 2,400 employees, of which some 1,100 were seconded from Sabena. By this time the airlines' destinations included Entebbe, Lagos, Nairobi, Ndola, Salisbury and Usumbura. Jet service to Brussels was inaugurated in March 1963 utilising a Boeing 707 which was leased from Sabena, and in April 1963 the airline joined the International Air Transport Association, becoming the 94th overall member. The airline signed an agreement with French airline Union des Transports Aériens
Association of European Airlines operated over 8,000 flights a day, serving 530 destinations in 140 countries, with a global turnover of €100 billion. AEA traces its history back to 1952, when the Presidents of Air France, KLM, Sabena and Swissair formed a joint study group, shortly afterwards expanded with the addition of BEA (a forerunner of British Airways) and SAS. In February 1954, the Air Research Bureau was established on a permanent basis, in Brussels. The name was subsequently changed to the European Airlines Research Bureau and - in 1973 - the AEA. Shortly after the ARB was established, the 1954 Strasbourg Conference on