Airline Name
Sobelair (Société Belge des Transports Par Air SA)IATA: Q7 / ICAO: SLR / Callsign: SOBELAIR
Country of Origin
Belgium
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
B733 (737-300) (6 operated, 3 more leased one a QC but I don’t believe it was used for freight),TUI livery,
Previous livery,
Late 1990s livery,
B734 (737-400) (7 operated, 2 more leased),
TUI livery (Was the final livery for some of the fleet whereas some wore the above),
At PMI below,
At Funchal below,
BMI A320 taxiing behind in full star alliance colours,
Older livery,
Late 1980s livery,
B738 (737-800) (2 operated),
Getting catering loaded at BRU,
TUI livery,
B763 (767-300) (6 operated),
The older livery,
At SJU in 2000,
Retired before 2004 fleet,
Leased A320 livery,
B732 (737-200Adv) (6 operated, 3 more leased),
Late 1980s livery,
A30B (A300B4-100/-200) (4 leased),
A few different livery versions were used across the leased fleet and depending on the year leased as some were leased multiple years on and off so top would be best if added,
Not including the DC10 as it wore small titles only over a different livery for 2 months in 1994.
Why should this airline be added?
The charter arm of Sabena, this airline was founded in 1946 and Sabena took a majority share in the company in 1949, cementing the relationship for 50 years. In 2001, Sabena went down with Swissair making the future of Sobelair uncertain. It was picked up by a group of investors in 2002 and tacked onto the new SN Brussels Airlines, itself founded from DAT which was the regional arm of Sabena and which took on the identity and some of the fleet from its former parent. Sobelair continued flying until January 2004 when it went bankrupt. TUI attempted to buy the airline but this was rejected by the creditors and the airline collapsed. TUI then bought some of the assets and created the airline Jetairfly which late became TUIfly Belgium.It’d be a great addition, being the final proper remnant of Sabena as even though SN had the logo until 2006 before rebranding to Brussels Airlines, it had a different name and identity so this would be a fantastic addition to the game to keep the memory alive of an iconic brand.
All 3 were around at the same time in 2003,
Plus thought this was a cool pic and description,
