Sabena Boeing 747s with four-engined Airbus A340. After the liberalisation of the airline industry throughout Europe and the economic consequences of the Gulf War, the Belgian government, the main shareholder of the company, realized that Sabena had little chance of surviving on its own in this very competitive market, and began searching for a suitable partner. Sabena remained in a poor financial state, and year after year the Belgian government had to cover losses, however, it was however prevented from providing new funds due to EU State Aid rules. Around 1987, SAS tried to merge with the carrier, but the merger
CanJet and merged with Canada 3000 in May 2001 shortly before Canada 3000's bankruptcy. CanJet was relaunched on June 20, 2002 as an independent airline. The relaunched airline flew to three destinations, but quickly expanded. Canjet operated a fleet of nine Boeing 737-500 — seven of which were previously operated by United Airlines and one by Sabena airlines — and one Boeing 737-300. These airframes date back to the early 1990s. There were plans to expand the airline's fleet of Boeing 737-500 aircraft to 20 by 2006; however, the plans were not realized. In April 2004, CanJet launched services at Hamilton/John