20 Euros SABENA

Reverse

Sabena Airbus A340-211 with René Magritte's Skybird designed for them on the winglets. The plane flies around the globe.
On the left we see SABENA in the society font with the bird of heaven.
Below: Years of celebration in French & Dutch.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
Sabena
Sabena
IB
ANS 100 JAAR

Unabridged legend: Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne

Translation: 100 YEARS

Designer: Iris Bruijns

Comment

Sabena NV (French: Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne;
Dutch: Belgian Limited Company to Exploitation of Air Traffic) was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to November 2001.

May 23, 1923, on the day of the foundation of Sabena, the first flight took off immediately! This made it, after KLM, the oldest airline in Europe. 'Father of Belgian Aviation' Georges Nélis (the first Belgian soldier with a military pilot's license) and King Albert I were closely involved in its establishment.
 Sabena: a fleeting history
The first successful scheduled flight between Belgium and the Belgian Congo proves that aviation really was pioneering before WWII. It took pilot Edmond Thieffry no less than 51 days in his propeller plane with an open cockpit!
 After WWII, modern aircraft are purchased, Sabena starts the pilot training Sabena Flight Academy (which still exists today, under the name CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Brussels) and the flight attendant is introduced on board. The national competitor Sobelair is also taken over. Sabena is developing this as a charter company and is also setting up a helicopter network.
After the 1958 world exhibition in Brussels, Sabena, like Belgium, was definitively on the world map. The home port became Zaventem Airport, a special railway line was built from Brussels-Central to Zaventem, and aircraft with jet engines were purchased as the first European airline. During the riots and uprisings that led to the independence of the former Belgian Congo, Sabena evacuated all Belgian refugees. At least 35,000 compatriots in just 18 days. After that, the flights to this part of Africa were discontinued and the focus shifted to cargo flights.
 
The turbulent 1970s and 1980s: from class and luxury to bankruptcy
In the 1970s, flying was still exclusive and Sabena guaranteed class and luxury on board.
The chairman of the board of directors of Sabena, Gilbert Périer, bought the painting Bird of Heaven (L'oiseau de Ciel) by René Margritte, which was delivered in early 1966. After that it was used to promote Sabena everywhere. From the fiftieth anniversary of Sabena in 1973, the Bird of Heaven was used even more frequently as a logo, it adorned the aircraft, the porcelain tableware on board, advertising, plane tickets, etc. In this way, the management of Sabena wanted to enhance the prestige of the international personality of the surrealist painter René Magritte, transferred to Sabena.
 
Because the Belgian State always stepped in when things went worse with Sabena, people were not prepared for the fierce aviation competition in the eighties. As a shareholder, the Belgian State pushed for a merger. Many attempts were unsuccessful and after the attacks of 9/11, Sabena went bankrupt on November 7, 2001. This is still the largest bankruptcy in Belgian history.
 
Sabena Aerospace
In the end, the fleet was no less than 52 aircraft in size and flew to almost 150 destinations on five continents. The technical knowledge of Boeings in particular was extensive, so the technical and maintenance department was taken over, still exists and is now called Sabena Aerospace. Subsidiaries of Sabena eventually merged into the current Brussels Airlines, which is also based at Zaventem. On March 21, 2016, Brussels Airlines unveiled the A320 OO-SNC Magritte, decorated inside and out with various works by Magritte. Where Sabena identified Magritte with prestige, Brussels Airlines emphasizes Belgitude.

Interesting fact

Price

Date	Mintage	VG	F	VF	XF	AU	UNC
2023	2500	-	-	-	-	-	-

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for 20 Euros (SABENA) 2023 coin.