Sabena 1923 as the national carrier of Belgium. The airline was created by the Belgian government after its predecessor SNETA ("Syndicat national pour l'étude des transports aériens", National Syndicate for the Study of Aerial Transports) - formed in 1919 to pioneer commercial aviation in Belgium - ceased operations. Sabena operated its first commercial flight from Brussels to London (UK) on 1 July 1923, via Ostend. Services to Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Strasbourg (France) were launched on 1 April 1924. The Strasbourg service was extended to Basle (Switzerland) on 10 June 1924. Amsterdam (Netherlands) was added on 1 September 1924, and Hamburg (Germany)
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