Sabena followed on 1 May 1929 via Antwerp, Düsseldorf, and Essen. When Sabena was created, the airline was partly funded by Belgians in the Belgian Congo colony who lost their air service, an experimental passenger and cargo company (LARA) between Léopoldville, Lisala, and Stanleyville a year earlier and who expected the new Belgian national airline to fill this gap. On 12 February 1925, Sabena pioneered a long haul across Africa to Leopoldville, capital of the Belgian Congo. Throughout its history, Sabena had a long tradition of service to African destinations and for a long time these were the only profitable routes
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