Sabena served by the airline. Sabena used landplanes for its Congo operations and a program of aerodrome construction was initiated in the Congo. This was finished in 1926 and Sabena immediately began flights within the Belgian colony, the main route being Boma-Léopoldville-Élisabethville, a 2,288 km (1,422 mi) route over dense jungle. First, flights were operated with De Havilland DH.50s, although these were quickly replaced by the larger Handley Page W.8f which had three engines and offered ten seats. By 1931 Sabena's fleet, including the aircraft used on the Congo network, totalled 43 aircraft. Its mainstay type was the Fokker F.VIIB with
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,