Sabena of Directors of Sabena, read a declaration on this day to explain the decision. November 7, 2001, was the final day of operations for Sabena. Flight 690 from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to Brussels via Cotonou, Benin, was the last Sabena flight to land in Brussels. An Airbus A340-300 registered as OO-SCZ operated the flight. A group of investors managed to take over Delta Air Transport, one of Sabena's subsidiaries, and transformed it into SN Brussels Airlines. That airline merged with Virgin Express in 2006 into a new company, Brussels Airlines. The Belgian Parliament formed a committee to investigate the reasons
Sabena planes were part of a record-order of 34 Airbus A320 family aircraft, imposed on Sabena when under Swissair management. After an airline recession and the effects on the airline industry of the September 11 attacks in 2001, all airlines that flew across the Atlantic suffered. Swissair had pledged to invest millions in Sabena but failed to do so, partly because the airline had financial problems itself, having filed for bankruptcy protection one month prior. The company filed for legal protection against its creditors on 3 October, and went into liquidation on 6 November 2001. Fred Chaffart, Chairman of the Board