Sabena Congo, caused thousands of Belgians to flee the country. The Belgian government commandeered Sabena's entire long haul fleet to get the refugees back to Europe. Independence also meant the end of the impressive regional network of routes that the airline had built up in the Congo since 1924. When the new republic began its own airline, Air Congo, in June 1961, Sabena held 30 percent of that airline's shares. The Douglas DC-6Bs remained in service with Sabena in the mid-1960s although they were no longer used on the airline's main routes. The Boeing 707s and Caravelles became the mainstay types
Sabena technics to secure a strategic opening into central and northern Europe markets. 2007: The EADS Sogerma sites in Mérignac and in Tunisia as well as EADS Barfield join Sabena technics Group Sogerma services, originally the MRO services provider at EADS Sogerma and based in Bordeaux, brings to the group a new structure capable of providing further support to both civil and military customers as well as an important design office and an entity dedicated to the training and certification of technicians working on all types of Airbus. Barfield, renamed “Barfield, a Sabena technics company,” based in Miami, Phoenix, Louisville and Bogota,