Air Zaïre the government. Part of the contract with Sabena saw the Belgian airline train Air Congo personnel for a six-year period, and by the end of 1962 Air Congo had 2,400 employees, of which some 1,100 were seconded from Sabena. By this time the airlines' destinations included Entebbe, Lagos, Nairobi, Ndola, Salisbury and Usumbura. Jet service to Brussels was inaugurated in March 1963 utilising a Boeing 707 which was leased from Sabena, and in April 1963 the airline joined the International Air Transport Association, becoming the 94th overall member. The airline signed an agreement with French airline Union des Transports Aériens
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,