Sabena taken delivery of two Douglas DC-3s. During the war the airline managed to maintain its Belgian Congo routes, but all European services ceased. After the war, in 1946 Sabena resumed operating a network of intra-European scheduled services. The fleet initially consisted mainly of Douglas DC-3s. There were thousands of surplus Douglas C-47 Skytrains (the military variant of the DC-3) available to help airlines restart operations after the war. The airline now flew under the name of SABENA - Belgian World Airlines. Sabena started its first transatlantic route to New York City on 4 June 1946, initially using unpressurised Douglas DC-4
Iberia (airline) airline with a flight Madrid-Lisbon. In 1940 the government gave the monopoly of national air transport to Iberia (this fact changed 6 years later when the government liberalizate the national air traffic for the private airlines), this privilege helped the company to start building as an important international airline, which had not been until then. The airline was nationalised on 30 September 1944 and became part of Instituto Nacional de Industria. The policy of the company was to separate itself from the German orbit to which it had been linked in its first years, and establish relations with the United