Sabena Flight Academy to the Saab Safir 91B, replaced in 1958 by the Cessna 310B and in 1981 by the Embraer Xingu. In 1991, the government gifted the "École d’aviation civile" to Sabena. It was first renamed Belgian Aviation School and then Sabena Air Training Center, and the school moved into a new building at Brussels National Airport. It was decided to carry out practical flight training in Phoenix in the USA because the weather in Arizona allows flights 365 days per year in a high and complex air traffic environment. Despite the bankruptcy of Sabena in 2001, the flying school continued in
Sabena that it had to buy jumbo jets for its prestige services, notably New York JFK and as of the mid-seventies, Chicago O'Hare. Sabena purchased only two first generation jumbo jets and it continued to fly the 707 into the late 1970s. In 1973, the Boeing 727s on the European network were replaced by Boeing 737-200s. The Douglas DC-10-30 entered service in 1974. In total, Sabena purchased five of these convertible (Passengers and/or freight) combi aircraft wide-body jets. In 1984 Airbus A310s were introduced on routes that had high passenger density. This aircraft type also introduced a modernisation of the 1973