SN Brussels Airlines and regional investment companies, as well as the Brussels and Walloon governments) set up SN Airholding, headed by Étienne Davignon. After the 2001 collapse of Sabena, Belgium's flag carrier airline, Belgium was left without a national airline. In February 2002, SN Airholding took over the Belgian airline DAT, a subsidiary of Sabena, and changed its trading name to SN Brussels Airlines. In 2002, a strategic reorganization started, led by the former CEO Peter Davies. On 12 April 2005 SN Brussels took holding control of Virgin Express and on 31 March 2006 they announced their merger. On 7 November 2006 they
Sabena Douglas DC-7C was introduced for long-haul routes but this plane would begin to be supplanted after only three years by the jet age. It remained in service on the transatlantic route until 1962. On 3 June 1954, a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (NATO reporting name "Fagot") attacked a Sabena-operated Douglas DC-3 on a cargo flight from the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia, killing the radio operator and wounding both the captain and engineer. Co-pilot Douglas Wilson managed to land in Austria but the plane suffered significant damage. For the 1958 world exposition in Brussels, Sabena leased two Lockheed Super Constellations