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
Alcazar (airline) States started negotiating open skies agreements with the European Union (EU), which would allow any European airline to fly from any airport in their home country to any airport in the US, and similarly any US airline to fly from any US airport to any European airport. In the 1980s, SAS, Swissair, Austrian Airlines and Finnair had attempted to establish European Quality Alliance (EQA). In addition to codesharing and joint marketing, the alliance was largely based around technical issues and using the EQA brand as a "seal of quality". These had largely stranded because Finnair felt that SAS goal was